Today I don't have to write the best chapter ever written. I don't have to write the best chapter I've ever written. I don't even have to write the best chapter I've written yet in this book.
Hell, I don't even have to write a good chapter. Ideally I'd like to, but I'm not holding myself to that.
Today I just have to write a chapter. And not even the whole chapter – I try to write a thousand words a day minimum. My chapters are running between 1,700 and 2,200 words. So all I have to do is write half a chapter, and it can suck. I hope it doesn't and don't believe it will. But I give myself permission to suck if that's how it turns out.
All I have to do is write.
Although for the record, I give myself this permission every time I sit down at the keyboard, and that last chapter was pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. Maybe there's a connection there. I'm not inclined to explore it. I'm just going to write.
I'll make it the best chapter I've ever written on the second draft. That's a different project for another day. Today I just have to write it.
While you're not doing all that thought you'd like to puruse this. She nails a lot of stuff about being a writer.
ReplyDeleteBird by Bird
~Anne Lamott
Thanks for this post. It's a great mantra for me.
ReplyDelete-- Cassie