Relish It, Don’t Disparage It

[ling]

With NaNoWriMo happening, a lot of writers are putting down tons of words a day. For those of us who don’t have time or are slow writers, we feel like we’re slackers. We feel guilty for not producing. And for some of us, we should be. We’re watching too much television.

But for the rest of us, we see the uber-producers and feel inadequate. Well, you know what? Dennis Lehane took a year and a half to write Mystic River and look where he’s at now. You don’t always need to be fast.

And for those of us who have day jobs that rob us of time we wish we had to write, write when you can. Don’t beat yourself up for not putting down enough. Just put down some and keep going.

Because, as a friend wrote today, “Every day you put down words is a victory. Relish it.”

Originally published at Samantha Ling. You can comment here or there.