A while ago, I promised myself I would write 1,000 words a day. No exceptions. I would commit myself to sitting down to the blank page everyday no matter what. After all, a writer writes. That's what defines us. When we write we're writers. When we don't -- we're garbage! (Well maybe not all of us, I was thinking of myself in particular.) I long ago discovered that when I'm not writing I'm a miserable, depressed, pathetic, self-loathing person. I can't help but compare my measly efforts at writing with all the great writers of the past and present. Reportedly, Winston Churchill wrote 10,000 words a day. I struggle to imagine where he found the time. So, that's what the mind does. It's programmed to make comparisons. Higher/lower, bigger/smaller. Typically our assessment of things is based on concepts of duality like "up" or "down" that we can easily grasp. But that kind of thinking doesn't support a writing life. It's like comparing fingerprints. They're all just different; any comparison would be pointless. My writing is uniquely my own. My 1,000 words a day would be uniquely my own. My little "stamp" on whatever was happening in the moment.
Needless to say I kept up the practice for a while with an admirable amount of idealistic energy and regularity. After about a month I had a nice start to my novel. You know, the novel. The big, epic romantic one I've always dreamed of writing. It wasn't easy. Far from it. After a few weeks I couldn't keep it up. Some days I just ran out of steam or felt like I had nothing to say or I had said it all already. Even more often I just felt like everything I was writing was just plain shit.
Now I've learned to squeeze the writing in where I can. I'm a writer who tries to write everyday. That's the best I can do without lying to myself. I wish I could say that I was one of those disciplined, crazed romantic figures that I admire so much. But my life seems quite ordinary and far removed from an F. Scott Fitzgerald or an E.B. White. I write when I can in hotels, airports, cafes, or wherever I happen to be at the time. Still, I managed to find the time to become an award-winning photographer and filmmaker. I have to keep reminding myself of that. The world has given me a good measure of recognition for my creative efforts. I'm grateful.
At the moment there are several ideas spinning around in my head (as usual). I've begun to commit two of them to paper. How much I write every day is unknown. What is known is that I won't ever let myself go too long without returning to the page. 1,000 words a day is a great goal but I don't want to make not hitting that mark an excuse not to write at all. After all, there is no excuse.
