#52 Make a very serious, very determined resolution to write at least 1,000 words a day.

Here's the thing: I am a great planner. I have journals and lists and outlines and goals and timetables all written out clearly and thoroughly down to the last detail. However...when it comes to the essential follow-through, taking action to bring these plans to fruition...well, not so much of the enthusiasm comes through, to say the least.

It was going so well, the plan to write 1,000 words a day. I accomplished this feat for most of last year. Really, I did. I even completed a draft of my novel and celebrated accordingly.

Then I read it.

Huh. Turns out, 1,000 words a day adds up to a lot of less-than-stunning narrative. Actually, it adds up to a lot of less-than-coherent narrative.That was last November. I put my novel away and didn't bring it out again until, oh...two weeks ago.

I should have learned my lesson about setting a stringent word count. Instead, I once again recommited to writing 1,000 words a day until a revision of my novel was finished. I made this resolution on Monday and threw myself into it with fresh verve. It is now Friday, and I have....wait, let me count....1,012 words.

I know plenty of authors that live by the 1,000 words a day rule. Carolyn See recommends writing 1,000 words a day in Making a Literary Life and I have tried to do absolutely everything Carolyn See suggests in that book. But right now, just the idea of having to write 1,000 words a day makes me to want to avoid writing altogether. Otherwise, my 1,000 words a day are going to add up to another terrible draft.

Of course, zero words a day adds up to a lot of nothing.