Insecure Writers' Support Group (IWSG) is a
really awesome meme that you should be doing along with the rest of us
writers. Unless you truly are happy with your writing and don't feel the
need to vent about your insecurities because they don't exist for you. But, really.... Don't they?
IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.
IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.
Nah... I haven't actually written one million words since my last blog post back in September. But, I have decided since then to work my way toward that ultimate goal. I recently read an author's response to a post over on Kindle Boards, and it just made sense that experience trumps everything. And, 1,000,000 words equals those 10,000 hours meant to be spent on becoming an expert in anything.
So, I literally tallied up every word I could find evidence of having written in the past 1o years (since 2004). What a project! Whether fan fiction or original, whether goofing around, or serious, if it was FICTION, it was added to my lifetime word count chart. I didn't go back further than 2004 because I simply don't have anything I wrote that far back anymore, sadly.
I will say that my current total is a little bit higher than I thought it was going to be. Not by much, but slightly, so this actually encouraged me rather than derailed me. But, I'm still nowhere near 1,000,000 words written total. That needs to change and it will now.
Doing this has made me realize that WHAT you write isn't even half as important as the fact that you simply DO it. Just do it! Just write fiction, and it doesn't matter if it sucks or is so amazing, J.K. Rowling will be mad with jealousy. Just write because you cannot add to your word count total that which does not exist.
I have to say, it helped me make a big shift in getting over some of my writing anxiety. Now, I just write and write and write until something someday will be good enough to edit into publishable condition. Someday, it will just have to happen.
And, if I write another 4,000 words before the year is over, I will have surpassed my word count total from 2012, which was my best writing year, by 500 words! (I didn't realize I was so close to having written as much as I did that year. This chart shows you everything that is true!)
My other big ah-ha from discovering how many words I've actually written is that I have a lot more compassion for myself. I realize it is so very, very wrong for me to expect perfection from myself when I am such a rank amateur. That might sound like something that should depress me, but it really doesn't. I can't logically expect to be so good at something that I don't have enough experience at to be considered a true professional. Now that I understand this, I'm easier on myself about making mistakes. You can't expect a toddler to run as fast as a teenager, ya know?
Have you ever tallied up your lifetime word count goal? Anywhere near 1,000,000 lifetime words written? (Maybe it's just me who's so far behind. :(
