Even though this is Monday, this is actually my second day of the work week. Yesterday, I cracked off 1,000 words on the novel. This morning, I added another 1,000 words. The weird thing is when I set goals of a chapter or 10 pages, it'd take me nearly six hours to eke out 1,000 words. Now that I've set a much smaller goal, I'm reaching it faster and with less stress.
The only explanation I have is that I've spent nearly 10 years writing short pieces for CBC Radio or the Edmonton Journal. Maybe I've been hardwired to be a sprinter rather than a marathon runner. All I have to do is keep sprinting just a little bit each day and within a month or so, I'll have a first draft. I'm not going to over-extend myself with word count this week, until I'm confident that I'm banging out 1,000 words consistently every day.
Next week, I might step up to 1,500 or 2,000 words to push myself a bit more, but I'm taking small steps now and celebrating the little victories. Hopefully, by the end of the summer, I'll have regained my discipline.
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