I want to be a prolific writer

What do I want more: To write a few really good books or to write lots and lots of books?

I actually know how to answer that. I want to write lots and lots of books. One of my lifelong dreams is to be a prolific writer.

If someone asked me if I’d rather look back at the end of my life and know I’d created one book that had dearly affected millions of people or if I’d rather say I’d written 482 books, I’d say “I wrote 482 book!” I have no idea what drives me to make that choice but that is definitely the choice I’d make. I have a feeling that says a lot about me as a person. ;) Oops.

However, if I actually want that to happen, I’m going to have to stop spending so much time fiddling with my writing when I write. A prolific writer can’t spend an entire day coming up with 500 words. The math just doesn’t work out.

Besides which, I have got to start managing my time better so I can fit in all the things I supposedly want to do. I say supposedly because sometimes I have a tendency to hang on to the idea that I should do something when I don’t actually want to do it. I really need to get over that.

Also, I need to clip my nails. Just typing this is driving me crazy. :D Ah, the rituals I must go through to get into the writing zone, even when it’s just my blog!

Here’s my plan: Start writing more freely! I know I keep saying that. I even read a book about it (Writing in Overdrive covers the topic quite nicely). But yes, I’m really going to have to commit to doing it. I can’t really define what’s stopping me most of the time, except maybe fear that I’ll write something terrible or stupid or inconsistent with something I wrote earlier in the story (which does happen!). Whatever the reason, it’s time I stopped.

One thing I’m going to do to practice this is to stop rereading these posts and editing them so much before I put them up. From now on, expect to see a lot more of my natural writing style here. Practice. That’s where it’s at. Time to break some habits. ;)