I mentioned yesterday the idea I read in The Art of War about showing up every day like I would for a paying job. And here I am showing up in Breckinridge, CO from the phone charging station in my hotel lobby!
I have been thinking about this a lot since posting yesterday. Do I actually need to show up and write seven days a week to consider myself a professional? Is six ok? Five? I mean, in a real job, you do have weekends and vacations and taking a break and stepping away from your work for a brief period of time can be incredibly beneficial.
I personally have found that setting short-term goals is really helpful and if I am able to meet my goals writing three days a week, then great! At least I know I am moving forward in my writing and am continuing to create stories.
Some goals that I have found helpful in the past have been to write: 1,000 words a week for my novel, one new picture book story a month (for about six months), and one new song every three months (for three or four years).
I currently don’t have any real writing goals, so it may make sense to for me now to just try to write something new every day, even just a few sentences. Or maybe I should get back to setting goals around what I want to accomplish with my stories.
But that is for tomorrow. My phone is now charged and it’s time to explore Breckinridge…