It Takes Three Days to Lose Momentum: Writer Wednesday

Tell me if this sounds familiar.

You’re writing a draft, loving the characters, debating about what should happen next, and you’re feeling really good about your progress. It’s almost the weekend, and you won’t be able to write due to a jam-packed schedule. No problem. The writing is going so well! You’ll be back at it on Monday with the same enthusiasm.

But Monday rolls around, and you have the sniffles, there are fifty emails in your inbox, you have no food and need to run to the store for basics. Before you know it, the day is over and you didn’t add a single word to your work-in-progress.

Tuesday morning arrives. Anxiety swirls in your gut. You’ll have to write extra today to make up for the words you missed yesterday. If you could just force yourself to open the file…

Facebook lures you in. And you can’t remember where your story left off, so maybe you should check your favorite blogs first. By the time you open the file, it’s late. You’re not motivated. And you  have no idea why you even decided to be a writer in the first place.

Momentum is lost. Just. Like. That.

Three days. Three days is all it takes for me to completely forget what I’m writing, why I’m writing it, and if I will ever write again. Three days turns into four which becomes a week, and, well, you know…

I’ve made myself a rule. Every Monday, I set my writing goals for the week, and I don’t let myself take more than two scheduled writing days off in a row.  Momentum is everything during a first draft.

Okay, but what happens if you’re on day seventeen of a wordless stretch? Dive in. Get into that file. Pour Junior Mints into your mouth if you must, but get some words on the page! Once you have a paragraph written, the rest of the book doesn’t feel as overwhelming.

The cure for lack of momentum is to build it up again, and you can only do that by writing.

Do you ever lose momentum with your writing? How do you get back on track?

Have a terrific day!!