I’m a typical American in that I’m way too busy. Time is not my friend. We battle each other every day. I have two young children at home for the summer. I run a business, maintain a regular workout schedule and write two blogs. So amidst the daily craziness I recently decided it’s time to write a book. Yes, let’s add one more thing to the mix, shall we? I’m thinking to myself, “This is crazy. Can’t this idea wait another 20 years? Surely I’ll have more time then?” (yeah, right!)
I’ve been working on the book for 3 weeks now. Plugging along. My husband, who has a writing background, told me that professional writers write for 8 hours a day and bout 5000 words a day. After three weeks I’ve got 5200 words and 15 hours. This whole time thing is really depressing now isn’t it? I can accomplish in 3 weeks what a pro can do in a single day! At this rate it will take 5 years to write this novel. But I recently decided, “You know what? I don’t care how long it takes. I’m writing! Inspite of life’s daily craziness, I AM WRITING.” Yes, I do have to scheme how and when to sneak away from my “real life” so I can write. At first I was bummed I could only manage to squeeze in 5 hours a week of intricately calculated time. But then I decided to stop beating myself up about that. I changed my perspective to “5 hours a week?! That’s not bad for someone in my shoes. I’m going to celebrate it. It’s a victory!” I know it will be all that much sweeter when I finish the first draft.
Perspective is everything. In this case I deliberately choose to be positive about my progress. It’s not easy. Self-defeating talk tries to creep back in and I have to keep knocking it out. It is futile to fight against the clock anyway. We all know who is going to win that battle eventually…
I’m sure a few prolific and successful writers can write for 8 hours every day. But plenty of writers have other jobs and responsibilities and simply don’t have that huge chunk of writing time. I think 40 hours a week might be a bit too much time to write. When time is no longer precious, a lot of procrastination can take place.
Anyway you are doing a great job by taking as much time as you can, using it to the fullest, and plugging away. It’s that long term perseverance, not the number of hours per day, that will determine your success.
I’d say carving out 5 hours to write, with kids, hubby, and business needing attention, is incredible. Can’t wait to read the book!