Video of a Novel: Day 36

This Time is Not Wasted...

There are days and weeks that will feel wasted, like you didn't get as much writing done as you would have liked. But very little time is actually wasted during the writing of a novel: you are always gathering new thoughts, new ideas, and if you are spending the time even only thinking about the book, you are making some progress.

Steinbeck writes in "Journal of a Novel," "Now I have sat a week. It is Friday and I have sweated out one page and a half. If I did not know this process so well, I would consider it a week of waste. But I know better than that now and I am content. I do not think I have wasted this week. In fact, I feel great gain."

So, this is why we don't have to be discouraged after a week where we didn't write very many words. The process is taking its time. Keep writing.

Today, in the video below, I’m talking about being at a crossroads in life, finding the time to write, and how even when the words don’t always come the way we hope they will, the time is not wasted.