Friday Fabulosities--I'm one of those Page-A-Dayers

Now this made me very happy:

Make your writing a regular duty. Remember that one page a day--say 300 words--each day for a year gives you a 109,500-word novel. (Peter Lovesey, the great mystery writer.)

Yes, I am a page-a-dayer. Two years ago, frustrated by "never finding the time to write," I vowed to just write one page every day. That seemed manageable. And so it has proved. I've finished one half-finished novel, written another novel, dabbled in several short stories and picture books, and am midway through a new novel.

I don't say this to brag (well, maybe just a little.) I say this because sometimes it looks like there will never be time for writing. And there won't be, if you go about thinking that you must immerse yourself in a novel to the exclusion of everything else. That, in order to successfully write, you have to have several hours to swim in your story. I guess that might be something you could pull off, if you had no spouse, no children, and were independently wealthy and so didn't need a job.

But, for the rest of us, if we want to create, we have to find niggles and nudges of time to do so. If you can't do a page-a-day, try for half-a-page. Or a paragraph. Just keep moving forward. You'll be amazed at how much you will accomplish as the days, months, and years go by.

Here's to "A Page-A-Day"!