Do you wanna...?

I'm not a regular Scalzi reader... not that I don't like his stuff, I've just not intuified and programmed my fingers to surf on over on a daily basis like I have with others: Wheaton, Gaiman, Stross. When I have found myself wandering up to the bar to hang out and listen, I've usually gotten something of interest... like this little gem here that I'll excerpt a bit of (mostly for my own future records).

But if you want to be a writer, than be a writer, for god’s sake. It’s not that hard, and it doesn’t require that much effort on a day to day basis. Find the time or make the time. Sit down, shut up and put your words together. Work at it and keep working at it. And if you need inspiration, think of yourself on your deathbed saying “well, at least I watched a lot of TV.” If saying such a thing as your life ebbs away fills you with existential horror, well, then. I think you know what to do.

To say that it's duh-huh advice is an understatement, and something I know I've struggled with, especially recently when trying to juggle creative projects with academic demands. The (current) academic portion is almost over... a few more months if I can keep the house of cards balanced. And if I can strike the balance, once the academic is completed I can redivert energy back to the word count in earnest. And I think I will be lowering my goals at first, from my original 500-1000 (2-3 pages) to something more like 250-300 (about 1 page, since I hand write)... inspired by this other tidbit fromthe same article...

Cory Doctorow says that no matter what, he tries for 250 words a day... and if you write just 250 words a day — the equivalent to a single, double-spaced page of text — then in a year you have 90,000 words. That’s the length of a novel. Off of 250 words a day. Which you could do. On the goddamned bus. If you really wanted.

Now, if you'll excuse me... I have a bus to catch.