Darcy Pattison had an awesome post last week on Fiction Notes entitled, 'How Do You Get So Much Done?' It's a question that she, as a writer, hears every so often. Darcy's answer is that, when it comes to writing, she keeps office hours. Just like any other job, and even though it's in her home, she writes at specified times of the day. When she had children, her hours were a bit shorter and designed to fit around their school schedules. Later she was able to expand them to an 8 to 4 work day.
When I read Darcy's post, I had a revelation moment. Maybe it was the simple way she put it, but it really hit home to me, because the single biggest problem in my own writing is that I act like writing is a treat for when everything else is done, rather than a job to do first.
It's possible there is no single ingredient in the writing life that guarantees success for a writer more than writing consistently.
There's a vast difference between having a dream and having a plan.
Honesty time. What does your writing days look like? Do you keep a regular rendezvous with your work in progress, or do you only touch base once in awhile? Do you have a daily time when you write? When is this? If you're a consistent writer, has your skill increased? Do you believe a writing plan can lead to fulfilled writing dreams?
