Sept 8

I know this is kind of silly, but when I'm in the middle of a first draft of a book, I'm always amazed at how long it takes. Somewhere in the unrealistic part of my mind I truly believe you should be able to write a book as fast as you read one. Of course, the rational part of me knows better. Even at the unrealistic rate of writing 20 pages a day it takes 20 days to rough out a first draft. At ten pages a day it takes 40 days, and at 5 pages a day it takes 80 days. And that's only the rough draft.

So, in a way, writing is like long distance running. You start off and try to maintain a certain pace. The rest is simply mental. At the one third mark you start to wonder if it's possible to run 5 miles, even if you've done it before. At the two thirds mark you are tired and start debating whether it's worth it. Whether what you've got isn't enough. Whether your goal was unrealistic or not for this day, this temperature, this route. None of the mental second guessing matters if you just keep going. Because you will reach the end...and you can know that you did it...

The next day, you do it all over again. :)