Person on the Page

On February 17, after reading Jami Attenberg’s book 1000 Words, I committed to writing 1000 words, four to five days a week, to reach a total of 25,000 words by April 1. This is my first update on the project.

I’m happy to say that I almost reached my goal.  I know, almost doesn’t count. Almost means that I did not, in fact, reach my goal.  But life really got in the way this week, what with the university where I teach announcing that it plans to shut down our undergraduate programs and sell our main campus, so I am extending myself some lenience.

I wrote three days this week—a total of 3614 words.  And I learned a few things from this first week’s experience.

1. Completing 1000 words of unplanned writing in one sitting is easier than I expected it to be. And it didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Since I’m used to writing and editing simultaneously, I thought that it would take me hours to write 1000 words. But I turned off my inner critic and kept up the typing until I reached the goal.  It took me about an hour for each sitting.

2. In the past I have been disappointed by my attempts to just sit down and write.  I felt directionless, and my writing meandered and veered off into self-pitying rants. So this time, I committed to WRITE NO BULL. I worked to stay on one topic, to head in a consistent direction with the writing, and to reach some kind of conclusion by the end. That commitment helped tremendously.

3. Originally, I planned to work consistently, 1000 words at a time, on an e-book that explores ten insights I have gained about writing from my 25 years as a writing instructor. I still plan to make progress on that project, but I decided this week that I should dabble a little into several writing projects I have in mind—some instructional, some creative—so that I can find a satisfying direction to take my writing when I retire in a few months. (I’m retiring partly to avoid the current drama at the university, and partly because I want to.) So, I’ll be using my 1000-word sessions to explore those possibilities.

4. My efforts to write this week reinforced what I already knew.  Writing makes me feel better.  So, I’m going to continue to do it.

I’ll have another update in about a week. Hopefully, I’ll have good news. No almosts.