Hi to any and all who happen to read this. It has been a terrific sixth week in my writing odyssey, and I’m happy to report that I’ve hit my goal of five thousand words once again. Not only have I hit the goal, but it’s the second week in a row that I’ve just killed it, with over seven thousand words written.

I honestly feel that keeping track of my daily word counts has done wonders for my production. Not only is it keeping my cognizant of my production, but it’s causing me to consider what’s next in my writing to a degree that I’m actually planning out what I’m going to write as I go about my daily duties at work. And the desire to hit these goals is giving me permission to write freely, promising myself that I’ll fix any issues in revisions.

It’s such a freeing way to write. I use to be so rigid when it came to how I wrote and the words I used, even in the first draft. It would then cost me more time in the drafting process to just settle on how I said something, even though I knew that I would only end up altering it in editing. It’s funny how you can be writing something, and just look at a certain phrase or scene and say, “Oh, I’ll get you next time.”

I’ve done that quite a few times. And when you’re editing, and you get to that scene or phrase that you knew since its creation would have to change, there’s this sense of prophecy fulfillment. There’s this eerie feeling of recognition, when you admit that you always knew it would always come to this. You feel that chill in your spine, and the hairs on the back of your neck as it all comes full circle.

But the beauty of these things is that I typically have some idea as to how I’m going to fix these broken words I left behind. I have a better idea of how the story plays out, and what drives the characters. It makes the whole editing part a lot easier.

Until Next Time: Remember that nothing is perfect on the first go round. Hell, it’s not even going to be perfect on the second or third go round. As Leo Tolstoy said, “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.” Just write until the words make you happy.