Butt in Chair

I've learned a lot in the last three years of trying to write seriously.

Most of them include the importance of ass in chair (and limited Internet surfing).

I wrestled with content the last two or three weeks thinking that when I finished, it would be like rolling downhill into the next parts.

But no. I ended up taking a true day off because I would open Word and just kind of stare at it and re-read the same sentence fifty times. I thought maybe a day would recharge me, so to speak. But nope. The next day, I opened word and it took three hours to get through a paragraph.
Talk about drudgery.

Now, three years ago, I would have been like hhmm, I guess it's not working for me right now. Let's go watch TV and go running. I'll take a break until I feel like writing again. After all, I'd reason to myself, if I try writing like this it's going to be crap.

But now I know better. Now I know that 90% of getting anything finished is putting the time in the chair, sloughing through. I know that my skill as a writer does not go out the window just because I don't feel like it.

I've learned to treat it like a job. I put in my time, I do my best, and I don't think about it at home.

Source: flickr.com via Sarah on Pinterest