A Sense of Doubt blog post #3879 - Writing Wednesday - Anything Counts As Writing Progress Even Fifteen Minutes

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3879 - Writing Wednesday - Anything Counts As Writing Progress Even Fifteen Minutes

I am going to put this advice into practice today.

Here's a thing that happens. I often do not feel like doing work that has to be done, work subject to a deadline.

But if I do tai chi, write fiction, work on this blog, sort email, and all that other stuff that seems right to do early in the day, then I get into a time crunch, risk missing the deadline or even if I make the deadline, I have not done my best work because I had to rush.

But I like writing fiction first thing in the morning when I am fresh and when I am still onboarding coffee.

I am doing better on altering my preferences, like today, when I had something due. I did that thing first, and so then it's done. After which, I can do other things. I doubt I will log much writing time today, but I will log at least fifteen minutes because even fifteen minutes will achieve some forward progress.

Here's one of the reasons that I have put myself in a position to work on a book for THIRTY years and not finish it.

In those years, I went long stretches of time working on other projects than the one I am currently back to working on or going long stretches of time not working on ANY projects because I had too much work that had to be done, too many other responsibilities. But maybe that's a cop out. Because there was always FIFTEEN MINUTES to spare, if I spared it. Granted, for many years, video games ate huge chunks of my time. When I gave those up, I got that time back but then other things ate that time.

As I wrote here, writing is about momentum:

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3858 - Writing Wednesday: Stop for the Day So You Know What's Next

But if the fields are fallow, if there is no momentum, then it's difficult to log those fifteen minutes.

Think of it like trying to jump start a battery that is DEAD. The battery needs to be charged. A jump start is not going to be enough for a DEAD battery. Charge for an hour or more and then give it a jump start if it's not already running.

But once one has momentum, once the battery is charged, the fields are fertile, then even fifteen minutes is enough on a day.

There was a time that I tried not to be over-slavish to writing every day but instead thought of how much I wrote per week in days logged writing and total words. I even kept spread sheets to track these stats.

A mix of discipline, commitment, and momentum is required to move forward. Progress will be slow if one only logs fifteen minutes a day, but even with that little devotion of time, the book gets finished eventually.

I strove for a few hours total per week, even if a few is only two hours.

I am happy to report that I have momentum and am finding the time.

Steal some time for your writing project today!

Thanks for tuning in.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2510.01 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3744 days ago & DAD = 398 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.