You know that feeling when you’re so focused on something that everything else can go take a hike? You forget to eat. Maybe you stay up way later than normal. That’s what happens when I hit my flow state.
I wish I could say I flow on command, but I don’t. Sometimes, I don’t hit the flow state for a long time. That’s one of the reasons why creative work can be hard.
I often go weeks without hitting the flow state. I know there are ways to train yourself, timers to set, breaks to take. Eliminating distractions is always good. But sometimes your brain will wander anyway. Mine likes to wander a lot.
I still manage to get things done, though. I set my priorities and make sure I work on them daily, or whatever the schedule I set is. I try not to beat myself up so much anymore when one day isn’t as productive as the next. The process of writing a novel, my ever-present project, doesn’t stay level. Some stages are harder than others, and some stories need more patching than others.
However, I’ve written enough by now that I know the minimum word count I should be able to hit every day, so I use that to gauge when a project should be finished. From there, I have set times I work. Yes, there are days when even that minimum isn’t reached, but I think I can work up to making that a rare occasion–when my schedule gets back to normal!
That’s been my biggest problem with getting my word counts in. But, this is why we must be adaptable. Change happens all the time, and we have to find a way to change with it. Show up, do the work. A little daily will go a longer ways than showing up once in a great while to flow.
After taking all of that into account, I’m doing well.
Queen of Werewolves – The Lost Princess of Howling Sky Book 3
Having said all of that, I did hit my minimum word count for Queen of Werewolves this week: 22,590 words. You know why? Because the book cover is finished, so writing got a bunch more time again.
Well, editing.
I’m doing line edits. That’s a lot of deleting and rewriting. This is the part of editing where I smooth the story out. This is where I make reading the story as enjoyable as possible.
Anyway, I’m really satisfied with how the book cover turned out. I’ll share that little beauty later, when I’ve got the preorder all set up.
These Immortal Vows Book 3
This book is doing pretty well too, sitting at 3,419 words written this week. I know I’ve said this before, but it kind of amazes me how this book keeps growing. Yeah, it’s taking a lot longer than my main project, but it’s still going. It will get finished. I’m at about 55,000 words total!
This is the power of showing up every day. Even if your muse isn’t talking to you, even if you don’t have inspiration, showing up and doing the work is how things get done.
Conclusion
What do you do to finish your projects? Do you chip away at it? Do you wait for your muse to speak?
I hope you had a good week. I’ll see you next time.
***I’m going on hiatus. Only for these weekly progress reports. Sometimes, they can be interesting. Other times… not so much. If you like these, comment below and let me know. Otherwise, I think it’s time to give this time to more creating. Namely stories. I’ve got a lot of writing to do!
