Monday Motivation - The Writing Diet

The Writing Diet

All right, now that I have your attention, let me explain. Unfortunately, I don’t have 

magic formula for helping writers lose weight or I would be wearing those too small clothes which I, ever hopeful, keep jammed in the closet! Now that I think of it, though, writers ought to be able to come up with a way to peddle or walk while they write. I supposed someone out there has already figured it out.  Hmm . . . if they haven’t, I could be thin and rich!

On a more serious note, though, the word “diet” comes, at its origin, from a Greek word which means “a way of life”. This evolved into a prescribed way of eating, which is how we think of a diet. When we do diet, we look at what we eat and add up the calories or perhaps just the value of the food, whether measured in glycemic index or nutrient density. We try to spend a certain amount of time in exercise to boost our metabolisms. As we get older, we have to be more patient to get results, but if we keep going, we find we’ve lost a pound or two and have to keep plugging away to lose more.

Definitely a favorite writing snack.

 In the same way, writing is a way of life. I’ve been adjusting to working outside the home again and likewise have to adjust my writing time. In addition to my blog writing, I have been trying to write something several days a week on my new work in progress. I decided to look back at last week and add up what I’d written on that wip. I had made it to over 2500 words. This week I’ve made a goal to reach at least 3500. Honestly, I would like to have written 2500 words a day, but right now I realize that having ten pages written in a week is better than no pages a week, because I thought I might fail at writing 50 in a week and didn't even try. It’s the long-term goal that helps us find that writing something every day or even every other day adds up to a whole book! Even at 10 pages a week, I would have over 500 pages in a year and that’s more than enough for a whole book. 

It's the big goal broken up into manageable pieces, which we can tackle, that count. 

Celebrate the small victories! Just like I should be happy to lose two pounds, I can celebrate that I am a writer making small steps toward the bigger goal. What small victory in writing do you have to share to encourage your fellow writers?

This week’s writing prompt: Broken shards of pottery were scattered in the field . . .