Being a Prolific Writer

The word 'prolific' is one I'd love to be labelled with... Oh look, she's turned out another bestseller book! What a prolific writer she is...

I've aimed at ridiculous wordcounts per day, I've pantsed and plotted and settled into a happy combination of both. I've changed my sleeping habits, tried NaNoWriMo, read a ton of blogs from writers I love and respect and so on and so on. 

The sad, dismal truth fact I'm currently facing, is that if you give me an hour a day, or a few uninterrupted hours in a day, my output will probably be about the same.

Maybe that will change, I live in hope.

In the meantime, I'm borrowing a lesson from my middle child's induction ceremony into High School a few years back. They start the event with a single torch burning on stage. All the new Grade 8's lead in in the dark. As you can see from the gallery above, the prefects start by lighting their candles and passing on the flame. The transition from a deeply dark hall to one lit by many individual lights was moving to say the least. The message was clear - your individual contribution counts.

How does that make me a more prolific writer? It doesn't. But what it does do, is make me value each word that willingly joins the ranks of the little army of words that make up my story. I only need 75 000 of them to show up at the the right time, and I'm done. 

Do I cringe at 500 word days? Nope. Do I cringe at the 23 words I manage to string together before I'm called to go see my 10's handstand against the cupboard / latest cartwheel / back bend  - AGAIN? Not any more.

All that matters is that I'm adding words. I will not waste energy on beating myself up for not being prolific. Maybe, just maybe... prolificacy (yes, I did just make that up) will creep up on me as I quietly grow my word count. Until then, I'll soldier on, adding each precious word as it shows up.

If you have found any magic formula for upping your daily count, I'd love to hear about it. It probably won't work on me, but go ahead and share anyway!

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She is writing a three book YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Harbourlight. Affinity (book 1), releases on the 8th of June 2018.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.