Another day, another thousand words

If you could force yourself to write 1,000 words a day, every day, you could have a novel-length manuscript done in 90 days.

It might not be worth reading - it probably would not be - but I still think it is important to get what is in your brain out on paper (or computer, as the case may be). Once you have it out you can do anything you want with it, including throwing the whole mess away.

More should be thrown away than ever is.

One thing I know for sure is that no one ever spun gold directly from their brain onto paper. Most of the work still has to be done and it is the tedious kind of work. Not the fun stuff.

I would guess that is where I - and maybe most everyone else - fail. I am not rigorous enough with the words after they are on paper. You can't just write an average novel (poem or short story, either)and get it published. It has to be something special.

I'm still working on that.

Rejection project update: 42,836 words in 152 pages.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

The boy can still write

After two weeks of not writing a word, I worked on the latest rejection project last night and then again today.

Last night's session was pretty tough, no doubt about it. I had to force myself a great deal and think I just wrote about a page, but that was still better than nothing. The longer I wrote the easier it got.

Today was completely different. I wrote like there had never been a hiatus.

Writing is a habit, pure and simple. When you don't write you get out of the habit. Because it is work (unlike some people believe) it is a lot easier just to skip it, sort of like I have skipped all those exercise lessons all my life.

It feels very good to be writing again. The next few weeks present some challenges to writing, but I am going to try to do it, even if it is only a few paragraphs. That is better than nothing

Rejection Project update: 41,690 words in 148 pages.

Yours in Rejection,

Phil

Comeback

I haven't written - anything - since Nov. 21.

Not quite true. I wrote what I had to at work and last night I fleshed out two poems. Even though you might wish it otherwise, life sometimes intervenes.

So I haven't felt like putting words together and getting back into the groove has not been all that easy, either.

I haven't tried working on the latest rejection project yet but when I close this out I am going to give it a whirl.

We'll see. I am not overly optimistic.

But eventually, it will come back because it is what I do and just about all I do.

Cheers...

Phil