Write Everywhere

This is the second week! Maybe you’ve gotten ahead of the word count goal, that’s great! Maybe you have not! That’s perfectly fine! Do something with me. Stop writing. Stop thinking about the word count. Breathe in deep. Hold it. Hold it. Breathe out. Relax the face and the shoulders. Take another deep breath.

Let’s be honest, life is very hostile to novel writing. Maybe you’ve got munchkins tearing up the house? Maybe you have furry babies that need walks and attention. Maybe you just want a BLT sandwich but there’s no bacon, no bread, no lettuce or tomato in the house? I get it. Life will find a way to trip our best-laid plans up. That’s fine. It’s what comes next that is the important bit. Do you give up or do you dust off the dirt (or crumbs) and keep writing?

Life is going to get in our way, maybe a surprise overtime training session at work. Kids, dates, friends, life tugs at us in a hundred ways most of which will interfere with your writing time. All of these responsibilities are important, it’s not like we can just not go to the grocery store or pick up medications. We are not robots. We are people. People with lives and responsibilities. But that doesn’t mean we can’t multitask.

Life will find a way to trip our best-laid plans up. That’s fine. It’s what comes next that is the important bit.

There is a very important factor in the race to 50,000 words that many of us lose sight of as we try to hit our daily goals. Every word counts. Every single one. I don’t know what I would do without my cell phone these days (probably go back to my writing journal, purses for the win!). Yes, it does everything but make a decent phone call, but do you realize what we have in our hands? It’s a path to victory friends. We have the ability to write anywhere, at any time.

Maybe you are standing in line at the drugstore and the cute old lady in front has a million questions about her prescription. Instead of standing there like you usually do, making faces at the back of her head and ignoring the other folks in line, you can pound out a few more sentences at least! Waiting rooms are now writing spaces, lunch breaks become prime novel writing time, blind dates can actually be tolerated, stop lights – no not that one. You get the idea. Whether you are in the back of a Lyft ride, at your kids’ soccer practice, or just waiting for that one friend who is always late to your coffee dates, you can write. You don’t even need something fancy like Dropbox or Microsoft Word or even Scrivener on your phone, just email it to yourself.

Maybe you only got 50 words out before the line at the drugstore began to move again. Or maybe the cab ride is super bumpy and you misspell a bunch of words. That’s a-ok. Why? Because that is 50 words you no longer have to worry about throughout the day. If life is constantly throwing you for a loop, then you need a strategy that moves your writing space with you. Use your phone, or a tablet to write wherever you are. Every word counts. You can do this bit by bit, just keep writing.