0 - Introduction
I've been starting and scrapping novels for about two years without much success.
My goal has always been to finish one. By that, I would chose a word count to aim for. I'd try for 2,000 words a day until I got there. I'd achieve my goal, then I'd burn out and hate every word I wrote during that time and never think about it that project again.
I always felt discouraged by the thought that every novel I gave up on was another failure. My mind works in numbers, and if my score resets every time I change my mind about something, am I really going anywhere? Is what I'm doing really worth anything? How was I ever going to achieve this goal if I hadn't the faintest inclination as to when I might achieve it.
So, I thought - why not change the goal?
Yes, 10,000 hours is a lot. It'll take several years at least and, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if I never reach it. But I still like it.
10,000 is a number. I love numbers. It'll never go down, only up. Instead of restarted all the progress I've ever made when I start a new project, I'm just adding to it. Today is the only day I'll ever be at zero. My goal will be there to remind me that although I might never think about that scrapped novel again, the time I put into it still counts for something.
Another thing about numbers is that they can be split into smaller numbers. It's a big goal, but within it are infinite smaller goals; which means I can celebrate when I reach 1 hour, or 10 hours, or 32 hours.
For me, though, it won't be about the final goal. The more I think about it the more I realise that this is less and change of goal and more a change of mindset.
So, here's some general things about it:
My goal has always been to finish one. By that, I would chose a word count to aim for. I'd try for 2,000 words a day until I got there. I'd achieve my goal, then I'd burn out and hate every word I wrote during that time and never think about it that project again.
I always felt discouraged by the thought that every novel I gave up on was another failure. My mind works in numbers, and if my score resets every time I change my mind about something, am I really going anywhere? Is what I'm doing really worth anything? How was I ever going to achieve this goal if I hadn't the faintest inclination as to when I might achieve it.
So, I thought - why not change the goal?
Yes, 10,000 hours is a lot. It'll take several years at least and, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if I never reach it. But I still like it.
10,000 is a number. I love numbers. It'll never go down, only up. Instead of restarted all the progress I've ever made when I start a new project, I'm just adding to it. Today is the only day I'll ever be at zero. My goal will be there to remind me that although I might never think about that scrapped novel again, the time I put into it still counts for something.
Another thing about numbers is that they can be split into smaller numbers. It's a big goal, but within it are infinite smaller goals; which means I can celebrate when I reach 1 hour, or 10 hours, or 32 hours.
For me, though, it won't be about the final goal. The more I think about it the more I realise that this is less and change of goal and more a change of mindset.
So, here's some general things about it:
- I've downloaded an app in which I'll enter how long I spent writing in a session and it does the math for me.
- I'll be counting all the time I spend planning, writing and editing.
- I'll also be counting the time I spent on other writing projects like personal essays, poems and blog posts (starting from when I post this one).
- In the title of each blog post I'll include the number of hours I've done (rounded down).
- Unless I decide otherwise, I'll be posting on this blog when I feel like it. If I learn something extraordinary about writing or if I just feel like writing about writing (metawriting?).
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