Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Susan Oleksiw's avatar

Thanks for focusing on something that can trap a writer. I hear others talking about their daily quota and I cringe because I can't match them and I don't want to start hearing the word "should" in my head all day. Each day is different for me, some full of words and others a sea of possibles, impressions, a haze that will clear at some point.

Expand full comment
M.E. Proctor's avatar

I never subjected myself to a daily count. Except the 2 times I did NaNoWriMo, as a personal challenge, to see what I could come up with. It was more than a bit of strain on my personal life :)! There is so much that feeds a writer besides writing: looking at the world, reading books, commenting on stuff friends sent you because they want a cold eye opinion, talking to people, not to mention the side stuff writers do: proofreading, interacting with editors, querying (Ha!), keeping channels open on social media ... All these things that make you say, at a certain point: I ache to write now, which is the best time to get completely obsessed about it and then word counts certainly don't matter.

Expand full comment
27 more comments...

No posts