Marta was wondering a few days ago about writerly magic numbers: specific quantifiable targets which writers hope to achieve within some given time period. She’s doing NaNoWriMo, so of course over her head looms the magic 50,000-words-in-a-November target. But she asked what other writers might choose to be satisfied with: N pages or words per day, or one complete draft or book by date X, or whatever.
In a long, wool-gathering post back in September, among other things which I scavenged for the point(s) I was making, I mentioned an ambitious project by artist Rowena, a/k/a Warrior Girl/Mama: to create 100 pieces of art in a 100-day block of time. It just knocked me out (it still does) that she managed to pull that off.
Yes, it knocked me out, and made me very happy; although it wasn’t writing but art, it confirmed what I’ve believed for many years now. To wit: To get really comfortable doing something creative, you have to do it every single day. None of this vaporous swoony “Oh, I must wait for inspiration to strike!” nonsense. None of those “But I just have so many things on my mind/distractions to deal with!” excuses. Just do it. Every day.
Turns out someone else took inspiration from Rowena’s experiment: pseudonymous RAMH friend The Querulous Squirrel.
