100 Words a Day

On a good day I can easily write 10,000 words. Writing that much has more to do with how fatigued or sleepy I am and has nothing to do with my mental ability to churn out words. Most days I write 4-5,000 words. I'm currently writing for three blogs (clients) my own blog, a 60,000 word book that must be completed in four weeks (client), and another 20,000 words to finish yet another book. I don't even count the words I try to write for the ebooks I'm writing for this website. But I write. 

It helps that I've been writing since I was 10 years old. I was a journalist for 23 years, and I have been a ghostwriter for another 10 years - so I've easily hit the 10,000 hours Malcolm Gladwell says one needs to become an expert. While I was a working journalist I was also freelancing for magazines. The more I wrote, the more money I made. So I got fast, and good, and disciplined. Newsrooms are crucibles for writers. They FORCE you to write. You have a set number of stories to write in a day, a set number of words to craft, and you're expected to hit your deadlines. If you want to keep your job, you learn how to write no matter what mental, emotional, or physical blocks are in your way. If you can't get a job in a newsroom, and you want to write, you need to find a way to set your own deadlines and hit them.

​Start small.

If you're a new writer, writing 500 words a day, every day may be terrifying. So make it 100 words a day. Or make it 50. If all you can muster is ONE SENTENCE a day, then do it. But write something. The only way you get better at writing, is to write. You can go to all the conferences you can afford, take all the classes you can find, or listen to podcasts and videos until your eyes and ears hurt, but your writing won't get better until you write. So write. 

It doesn't matter if "it's good." No one is going to read it but you. So write. It doesn't matter if anyone else loves it, or hates it, or if you think "they" wouldn't like, approve, condone, support, or encourage your writing. NOTHING matters but YOU. 

So write.

"But I can't!" writers wail. Yes you can. You write on Facebook. You write on social media. You leave notes for your kids or spouse. You make lists. You can write. Writing is the act of stringing words together. Stop thinking you have to craft the next great American novel and just write - one word, one sentence at a time. You will get better as a writer. You'll begin to believe you're a writer. Your writing will get better. You'll begin to feel more confident, secure, motivated. 

But you have to write. Start a blog with a pen name and write where people don't know who you are. Keep a paper journal. Find something that works for you and write every day. It makes a difference.