The Best Writing Advice EVER

Novelist Myke Cole, author of the Shadow Ops series, linked via twitter to this blog post by novelist Chuck Wendig.  Now, I haven’t read anything Wendig has written other than this post, but based only on this, I’m going to have to check his stuff out.  Because it’s the best advice ever.

In a nutshell, and phrased FAR less entertainingly than Wendig does, the advice essentially says “Write 350 words a day.”  That’s it.  He points out that at 350/day, assuming you write 5 days a week, you’ll have a 91,000-word novel in one year.

Of course, it’s easier said than done.  I’ve been working on it, and so far there are only a couple of days I haven’t managed it.  But on the days I did?  My word count grew by 2000 words.  One day I did not just 350, but 900.  Not bad.

I’m challenging myself to continue to write 350 words a day.  And I pass that challenge on to you.

No bullshit.  No “I have fifty things to do.”  EVERYONE has fifty things to do.

No “my kids need me.” Write when they go to bed.  Write when you realize you’re watching reality TV and there are better things to do.  Write before you go to bed. Write when you first wake up.  Write when the world is quiet but your brain won’t shut up and the moon is laughing at you.  Write when the storm rages outside.  Write on the deck when the world is being kind, write in your bed when the world is being cruel.

WRITE.

I am.  Are you?