Keep the Ink Flowing

How do you hold yourself accountable? Do you insist on doing a certain number of words each day or a certain amount of time? What happens if you don't meet the goal? Is there punishment? Do you give yourself treats for meeting goals?

by Dietrich

  

I get up early, show up and start writing. It’s that simple and it’s the best way for me to start any day. Getting to it while the world’s still sleeping — hey, I’m in my element! 

There’s no a set word-count. Every day presents something new and I just go with it. Working to a word count and piling up pages seems rigid to me — reminds me of punching a clock. On the flip side, I never sit at my desk staring down an empty page. It’s always about the quality of the words that I get typed, and I’m happy with just a few hundred of them if I still like them the next day.

I’ll take time over word count since for me typing just to keep to a quota of words would likely turn into a bunch of gobbledygook, filler I’d have to edit my way through or put to the torch later. The muse doesn’t care about any quota, she just shows up when I do.

There are those days I only write for a couple of hours, and other days when it’s more. A good stretch might see me cranking out 800 to 2,000 words — enough to get through a scene. I don’t keep track, but when I’m really on my game, I could just keep going all day. Of course, there are those times when life throws a curveball, and I have to miss a day or part of it, but, I don’t let that be a problem. I accept that if I don’t show up, the story won’t get told, but feeling flustered about missing out on some writing time makes for a lousy motivator.

One thing I like to do is aim to leave each day’s writing on a good note, ending at a spot where I give myself a nice starting point for the next morning. It’s the kind of thing that helps me to get back into it.

No treats, no punishment. Writing’s a labor of love and being able to slip back into some imaginary world I’ve created is its own reward. And when it all clicks, that’s the high — and not even chocolate beats that.

Oh, and speaking of keeping the ink’s flowing, my next one, Dirty Little War, dropped yesterday. Here’s the link and the copy off the back cover:

A riveting, fast-paced ride through 1920s Prohibition-era Chicago — the epicenter of crime, corruption and commerce.

Trouble has a way of following Huckabee Waller like a shadow. Tough times force him to make his way bare-knuckle fighting and running booze. Before long, he finds himself entangled in the escalating tension between notorious rival gangs and the city’s deadly taxi wars. Caught up in vice and violence, Huckabee lands in the crosshairs of Al Capone. 

The smart thing to do would be to get out of Chicago — fast — that is if his reckless life doesn’t kill him first.