My New Homework Assignment

I’ve recently brought the worst part of childhood into my adult life: homework. As you might expect, it sucks. I’m currently working part time, applying to jobs, and creating social media videos for a local nonprofit. When I’m not working, I’m exercising, eating, spending time with my family, and bathing. My days are fairly packed, but at the end of each day I have to sit down in front of my laptop and commit to writing a set amount of words. 

(Image of my writing desk, complete with pens & notebooks.)

When I was in high school, I had a regular writing practice like this. I would come home from high school, finish my homework, and write for two hours. Sometimes I would manage to write 2,000 words in that one session, other times I would write 50, usually I wrote somewhere in between. This practice enabled me to write a 90,000 word manuscript (the original Child of the Sky) in 3 months. I remember looking forward to it every night, as a time when I could forget school and all the awful angst of being seventeen. I initially intended to resume that practice when I began the writing part of my project, but absolutely dreaded it. 

When my advisor, David Goodwin, emphasized that I should really start a daily writing practice, I asked, “How many words do you write a day? A thousand?” He balked. Three hundred, that’s what he recommended. I thought that was a ridiculously low number, but it’s been really productive. 

Writing is a lot like running, you can’t hop off the couch and run eight miles without building up your strength and stamina first. I’m hoping that at some point I can get back to writing for an hour every night, but for right now, I’m sticking to the prescribed 300 words. 

Despite my complaining, it really is helpful. Having such a low word count makes it easy for me to tackle, even if I’m tired or it’s late, as I can typically finish it in about 30 minutes. I also almost never write 300 words. Once I get into the scene, I’ll add another 50, 100, 200 words onto that initial word count goal. I started this practice last week, and have already written 5,159 words. That’s more than double the 2,100 words I’d have if I only wrote 300 words a day for seven days. 

As my professor for my writing class noted, a daily practice also helps me to keep the novel fresh in my mind. When I return to the document, I don’t have to scroll through the previous pages to make sure that I know what’s going on. Even when I’m not actively writing, however, my story is constantly floating around my mind. At the moment, I’m trying to look for quirks that I can add to my characters in order to make them more three-dimensional. When I’m working my part-time job, I hear the most fascinating lines. A few weeks ago, my coworker asked a customer how he was doing, and the customer responded, “Fine, but I’m burning through money like wildfire.” Maybe I’m a bad writer, but I’d never think to write that line. 

Daily practice is one of the most beneficial things we can do to improve our performance, whether it be in the gym, on the trails, in the boardroom, or in the knitting circle. I already feel like I’m getting my stamina back, and becoming a stronger writer.