250 words about 250 words

I published 500 words a day for awhile, and I published 100 words a day for awhile.

Publishing 500 words a day was key in quadrupling my creative productivity. I expected the quality of my writing to suffer, but it actually got better, and my writing got noticed more.

100 words a day was surprising in a few ways.

• It led to more ideas. The barrier between thinking something and being able to write about it was lowered.
• It increased starting resistance. Like trying to jog in a playpen, I didn’t have room within my goal to gain momentum. The end was too close.
• It hurt my creative productivity. After finishing 100 words, I would suddenly feel a need for a reward. I might be just as eager — and feel just as much like I owed it to myself—to check email or Twitter, as if I had just published 500 words, or 1,000 words.

(This isn’t to say that 100 words a day couldn’t be a valuable habit for a busy person trying to get into a writing rhythm.)

I have to be protective of my, what Hemingway would call, “juice.” I shouldn’t have a writing habit that taps out my juice for the rest of the day, because I need to take Getting Art Done from first draft to published book. But without a creative habit, my sense of usefulness and sharpness as a writer crumble quickly.

Maybe I’ll try 250 words a day. This isn’t a proclamation that that’s what I’ll be doing. We’ll see how it feels.

Getting Art Done will boost your creative productivity so you can bring your work into the world.