Outcome of Embracing Discomfort

Last week I posted about how I’d decided to write for 25 minutes every day starting September 3rd. September is over, I’m writing this on October 1st. Here’s how it went:

I’m happy to report that I successfully wrote 25 minutes every day since I decided that I would embrace the discomfort of starting to write on September 3rd.

I think this quote from Dean Wesley Smith does a good job of summing up the reason I’m doing this:

“Writing is never work but sometimes getting to a mental state where you can write is work.”

A lot of times I spent the first 15 to 30 minutes fumbling my way in the darkness trying to make a path to the mental state where I can write and enjoy it. But there was only one day this past month where I didn’t eventually find my way through the darkness.

This was not the easiest month to take on this kind of challenge. I traveled for a week and a half of the month and the chaos of travel usually has ripple effects. Leading up to and following trips I’m often anxious or exhausted or both. Neither of which is great for my writing.

I’ve had a variety of feelings toward this challenge during this past month. A lot were me feeling proud and happy that I was consistently making progress. I was often happy I took the time to write. But the unhappy end of the spectrum was there too. I occasionally wondered why I was doing the challenge or writing or anything at all.

Right now I’m in the kind of slump where I’m spending time on the unhappy end of the spectrum. But I know that will eventually pass and I’ll be glad I kept this up.

Stats

I, of course, tracked the numbers very carefully and these are some stats that I thought were interesting:

• I wrote a total of 20,063 words
• I wrote a total of 26 hours and 15 mins
• I averaged 743 words per day
• I averaged 763 words per hour
• I averaged just shy of 1 hour per day
• I wrote the most words on the first day of the challenge: a whopping 2,499 words
• I wrote the least words on September 8th & 15th (36 words on both days)
  • My notes for the 8th indicate that I was stuck on the direction I wanted the story to go.
  • My notes for the 15th indicate that I was rereading and clarifying some of what I’d written the day(s) before. Which is normal part of my process, I just usually follow that rereading with more drafting and on the 15th I didn’t.
• The breakdown for the 28 days looked like:
  • 14 days where I did the minimum of 25 minutes per day
  • 2 days where I did 2 hours or more
  • 12 days where I did between 60 or 90 minutes

Going Forward

So the big questions I’ve been asking myself is: Will I continue to do this? \

The answer is Yes.

However, I’m not keeping this habit because I think it’s the best idea in the world. I’m keeping it because the jury is still out on whether or not it’s a good idea. I’m in a slump and I know slumps are not the right time to make a decision.

I know this slump will pass but I’m also sure it will come back a few more times before the end of the year. I still miss Wayne every day that I’m home and the 11 days of travel were a nice break from that but it didn’t help me process anything. Only time can do that so I’m giving it time.

Writing is the #1 thing I can do for my mental health on a daily basis. Days when I write, even if it’s only 36 words, are far better than ones where I don’t write.

When I was writing only one or two words it was easy for me to call myself names like lazy or impostor. It’s hard to consider myself either of those things after spending a half hour in front of my writing computer. Shutting up that part of my head is absolutely worth spending 25 minutes a day being a little uncomfortable writing.

Additionally, I wrote about 7,000 more words than I would have with my old system of doing a few words every day. That’s a good sized short story, maybe even 2 short stories. And I’m not one to turn my back on a system that is delivering results.

However, there’s something to be said about rest and recovery. I’m not sure what this something to be said is because I don’t embrace either…but writers much smarter and more prolific than me do embrace rest and recovery. And I’m not one to turn my back on the wisdom of mentors.

So, the plan moving forward is to keep the practice of writing 25 minutes each day through to at least the end of the year. Maybe it will suit me well maybe it will drain my energy and mood.

Worst case: I’ll have a bunch of 36 word days and be proud of myself anyway.

And that’s certainly worth it.

Find Peace in Progress,
Nicholas Licalsi

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