On book writing. For newslettering or blogging too?

“Over twenty years I have probably averaged five hundred words a day for five days a week. I can produce a novel in a year, and that allows time for revision and the correction of the typescript. I have always been very methodical, and when my quota of work is done I break off, even in the middle of a scene.” ~ Graham Greene)

At that rate it’s around 130,000 words a year.

And sketches/drawing too:

Five quick minutes of daily sketching can get your skill pretty far. It’s a way to wire your brain to move your hand how you want it to move. Practice strokes, capture proportions, and decode perspective.

Needless to say, you can apply this logic to activities other than sketching that you enjoy doing. I’d like to do it for sketching and writing but I’ve yet to be consistent enough.

If doing this daily there will be a nice body of work to reference and string together over time. When looking back from the future those strings become meaningful.

Sorta like keeping a Zettelkasten?

I’m terrible at starting something new.

I’ll tinker around with everything but the actual creating.

Like in painting — I’ll buy all kinds of supplies, read books, etc. before putting brush to canvas.

New websites or blogs — I’ll hack and hack away, going so far to set up a newsletter and community forum, etc. etc. before writing a solitary word on the blog.

Same thing with writing and so forth.

Often by the time everything is in place and just “perfect” my desire’s gone or burnt out.

Or I’ve moved to another shiny new thing. (My ADHD inner child slays me sometimes).

So now when I start something I try to go straight to the very act of creating — simple paintings in a scrapbook, putting pen to paper in a notebook, or in the case of a blog, simply writing and sharing posts.

Everything else eventually falls into place in the natural flow of things. By the time I’ve churned out a few pieces I’ll know whether it’ll stick or not before building around it.

BTW, I’m just getting started on this blog so I’m glad you’re here. Thank you for reading.

Baby steps,
Ray