Writing my Zero Draft with a gentle daily target of 400 words
You don't have to write every day, but sometimes it helps
As we enter August’s full moon, I am feeling the chill of the early mornings and noticing the darkness appearing a little earlier in the evening. I took my biannual shopping trip to my local town this week, traditionally at this time of year to begin to get ready for back to school.
But there is no school uniform or supplies to buy so I bought myself a pair of walking boots! Considering I walk a reasonable amount, I have never owned a proper pair of walking boots with ankle support. And since I twisted my ankle on the South Downs last year, I’ve been meaning to do this.
It was this video from 75-year-old YouTuber and Canadian adventurer, Wendy Outdoors, that inspired me to review my hiking kit:
After watching this video, I planned a hiking route from my house to Bewl Water with an overnight stop at a tiny campsite in the woods at Harrison’s Rocks. I’m not sure when I’ll do this, but I am beginning with reviewing my kit - small steps…
Talking of which, for the past week, I’ve been making small but steady progress on my NEW BOOK, which is currently the working title!!
This is what’s been helping:
A gentle daily word count target of 400 words. I’ve written more about why that works for me here. I can write this in less than half an hour if I know what I’m writing.
Working with the idea of a Zero Draft, which is about getting the bones down before a first draft. It feels delightfully unpressured to me.
A chat with my friend and long-time writing support person, Julie Corbin. I talked to her about leaving notes in the writing for myself and my temptation to go back and fix them before moving on. She told me not to go back and to keep going intuitively until I had about 40k words. This would give me enough words to develop into a book but not too many that a Zero Draft becomes unwieldy.
My work is quiet in August, which is helpful for writing and I am also getting on with some background jobs I don’t have time for when my workshops are in full swing. I took a break in July, which is making me feel as if I have a bonus month before September gets going. Also, my kids are not kids any more, so while they still need some input from me, it is definitely not the same as when they were at school and then suddenly around all the time in the holidays.
But all of this might be different for you. Do you find it easier or harder to write in August?
Other news
To find out about the events I have planned this autumn, click on the link below:
Creative writing workshops & events
And take a look at my new evolving page outlining my editing and mentoring services:
Also, thank you to everyone who has filled out my Summer Survey so far - it is so helpful. Here is the link - I would love to hear from anyone who can spare the time:
The theme for our Tuesday afternoon guided creative writing hour for paid subscribers is UNEARTH and we begin on 9 September.
And if you’re working on a book or longer writing project, we are meeting for our Gentle Book Club Support Group (paid subscribers only) this morning at 9.30am (UK time). Click here for the link.
Until next time…
You absolutely do not need to write every day.