Every writer experiences writer's block. In the past mine have lasted several months to several years. I blame kids, pregnancies, and other life stuff for those big chunks of time. To stave off writers block this year (2017) and to finally achieve my big goal of being published, I made tiny writing goals each month.
In the beginning (January-March), my goal was to write 1000 words a week. Easy right? 200 words a day M-F? It wasn't so easy. With three kids under 5, it was near impossible some weeks.
But I kept making goals. Sometimes I hit the mark, sometimes I didn't. But by trying again and again, week after week, month after month, I finally got to the point where writing 1000 words in a day wasn't such a daunting task.
Then, in the month of October I wrote 25k words in preparation for the big 50k November goal. 25,000 words! That was a big accomplishment and I hit the ground running as November began. But here we are toward the end of the month and I've only written just over 20k.
Big editing deadlines, plus my birthday, a sick baby, and now the coming holiday has pumped the brakes on my writing.
But 20,000 words...that's still pretty good and the month isn't over. I can probably beat my word count from last month even. I should take that as a major win!
Okay, so if you're reading this you might not be a writer, but I have a point. Had I attempted this huge goal in January with everything that happened and my other responsibilities, by the 21st of the month, I assure you my word count would have been a big fat zero. But by making small goals and building throughout the year...I have quite a few more than zero words written.
Plus, I have a finished novel that is halfway through the editing process that will be ready for publication in a couple of months.