Sound harsh? Well, so far this year I've produced (under various pseudonyms) a 100,000-word novel, 2 collections of short stories totalling 60,000 words, a non-fiction book of 55,000 words and two work books that go with that non-fiction book. That's a total of 265,000 words published so far this year. That isn't counting my 10 blogs, each of which gets a weekly posting of sometimes 1000 words or more, and all the work that hasn't gone off to the editor yet, including another 100,000-word novel. I've written well over 1 million words this year, and the year isn't over yet.
And I did this while raising 2 kids, only one of whom is in school (the younger one is still only 4 years old). Not only that, but I had major surgery to remove a tumor from my abdomen in February and I'm struggling toward my PhD in English. Just this week alone I've had to deal with lawyers and sick children, and I still produced 20,000 words.
I'm not bragging here and I certainly don't think every writer needs to write 20,000 words in a week. Many (most) writers need to hold a full-time job while taking care of a family. Writing is my full-time job, so I can write for hours a day. In fact, I have to write for hours a day to make a living. But anyone can write 1000 words a week. That's barely more than 100 words a day. Excuses will get you nowhere.
So what am I asking aspiring writers to do? Stop making excuses. Either start writing or admit that you're not going to start writing and move on. But don't whine and complain about how you don't have time or you can't think of anything to write about. No one has time. Everyone runs into writer's block. Everyone has things that happen in their lives, sometime major things like serious illness or a death in the family. But you either write or you don't.
Let's take the excuses out of writing and get back to the task at hand. Let's get back to our passion, to writing.
