Setting a Goal

Writers are some of the best procrastinators I know. For some, it’s writer’s block. For others, it’s XBox. For me, it’s mostly the latter. But regardless your vice, there are definitely times when it’s hard to sit down and crank out a few thousand garbled words and turn it into something coherent and above a fourth-grade reading level.

Writers are certainly motivated enough to WANT to write, but making it happen is hard.

The key is consistency.

That’s the end goal of this blog. I’m setting a goal this year to write a thousand words (1,000!!!) a day. That’s not hard for me. I’m usually pretty good about cranking out the word count. Just take a look at the number of books I’ve published over the last few years. (Seriously, go look!) But after cranking out three books in the fall, I’ve been lazying-it-up these last couple months since then and I need to get back on track. Thanks to my wife’s obviously-working fertility organs, I’ve got about five books to get finished by this summer before a new baby short-circuits my progress, and none of these books are going to magically write themselves… I think. So I’m resuming my daily word count quota AND I’m including some word-smithing gymnastics by doing some weekly blogging. Writers need to write, so a fully formed (well, mostly) blog each week (again… mostly) will only help my writing skills.

I’ve avoided this exercise for a while. I’m not a huge fan of blogging, and I’m not good at it, either. I have trouble writing meaningful, thoughtful essays on stuff that’s happening in the world, mostly because I struggle to find a point to my ramblings. But I recognize the need for it, and I don’t mind imparting some hard-earned words of wisdom on my fans (I’m looking at BOTH of you!) and my fellow writers. So I implore anyone who reads this blog to help me stay on target. Don’t let me slack on writing or blogging and I’ll pay you back by making sure you get some quality content at some undetermined point in the future.

(Oh, and this blog counts as a meaningful post.)

Write on!