How To Push Past The Bullshit And Write That Goddamn Novel: A Very Simple No-Fuckery Writing Plan To Get Shit Done

Life will never be kind to the writer. Particularly those who stay at home. You go to a full-time job outside the house, everyone gives you a wide berth to let you do what you need to do. Stay at home to write a book and everybody interrupts you like all you’re doing is watching a Teen Mom marathon on MTV while chowing down on pizza-flavored Combos and Haagen-Daaz.

Life intrudes upon you. It kicks down the door and stomps all over a writer’s practical aspirations to write. Kids. Dogs. A full-time job. A part-time job. Cleaning. Cooking. Pubic grooming. Xenomorph invasion. Hallucinations. Masturbation. LIQUOR AND MONKEY WRESTLING.

As your shoulders bear the burden of carrying the multiple shit-sacks of life’s daily ordure output, it gets easier and easier to push writing aside: “I’ll do that tomorrow,” you say, and next thing you know you’re in diapers once more, this time at an old folks’ home gumming chocolate pudding topped with a skin so thick you need scissors to cut it. Procrastination is the affirmation of an unpleasant and unwelcome but all-too-easy status quo. You merely need to do nothing and yet at the same time feel productive because you’ve promised no really I’ll pinky swear to put down some words tomorrow. You know what I want to say to that?

Tomorrow can guzzle a bucket of vulture barf.

Yesterday’s gone the way of the dodo. You have one day, and it is today.

Your promises are as hollow as a cheap-ass dollar-store chocolate Easter Bunny.

I’m going to give you literally no excuse at all to write and finish that novel. You know the one. The one that lives in your head and your heart but not on the page. The one you always say, “I’m going to write that book someday.” The one you talk about. But not the one you write. The one that makes you blah blah blah “aspiring” rather than the “real deal.” I’m going to give you a prescription for a writing plan that is simple, straightforward, and contains zero heinous fuckery. It’s so easy, a determined ten-year-old could do it. You will have no excuse. None. Zip.

Fuck-all.

Because if you come back to me and say, “I can’t do that,” you might as well have told me, “I can’t pick myself up out of this pile of mule poop I accidentally rolled in. I’m literally just bound to lay here in this once-warm now-cold heap of mule turds. Forever. Until I die. I have no self-capability and I am less motivated than your average sea cucumber. Please kick dirt on me, and if the word writer ever comes out of my mouth again, just slap my face.”

Further, if someone tells you they aren’t able to write a novel — “I don’t have time! My life is too busy!” — just send them a link to this post with my blessing.

Ready? Here’s the rules:

The Big 350

You’re going to write and finish the first draft of a novel in one year’s time.

You are going to do this by writing five days out of the week, or 260 days out of the year.

You are going to write 350 words on each of those 260 days.

That means, at the end of one year, you will have written 91,000 words.

More than enough for an average novel length.

To be clear, 350 words? Not a lot. At this point in your reading, this post is already 500 words long. You can sneeze 350 words. It’s like a word appetizer every day. Some days it’ll take you 15 minutes, other days two hours — but you’re going to commit to those 350 words every day, whether you type them out, or scrawl them in a notebook, or chisel them into the wall of your prison cell. You will carve these words out of the time you are given.

You get 24 hours a day. As do I. As do we all.

Grab a little time to write a little bit every day.

The Goal

The goal is not to write a masterpiece. It’s not to sprint. This ain’t NaNoWriMo. The goal is to finish a novel despite a life that seems hell-bent to let you do no such thing. It is you snatching snippets of word count from the air and smooshing them together until they form a cohesive (if not coherent) whole. It assumes a “slow and steady wins the race” approach to this book.

A finished first draft. That is the brass ring, the crown jewels, the Cup of the Dead Hippie God.

The Other Rules

No other rules exist. Next question.

Things To Consider

Wanna do an outline? Great, go for it. Edit as you go or all in one lump? I don’t give a monkey’s poop-caked paw how you approach it. Do as you like. Just hit your target of 350 words per day.

Let me say that again: Just hit your target. Don’t turn off your targeting computer. Don’t listen to that weird old man. Use your targeting computer, Luke. The Force is some flimsy hoo-haw made by a bunch of loveless space cenobites. No, not those cenobites, goddamnit you’re confusing your movies. Stop fiddling with that ornate-looking puzzle box. CRIMINY.

Wrote more than your allotted and expected count in one day? Fuck yeah. High-five. Fist-bump. Slap-and-tickle. Give unto yourself the pleasures of the flesh and celebrate that you’re this much closer to the end goal. Didn’t write today? Well, goddamnit. Fine. Guess what? It’s only 350 words. Cram it into tomorrow’s word-hole. That’s still only 700 words. It’s not even a 1000 words. Some writers write that much before they wake up in the morning.

Make a spreadsheet if you have to. Track your 350 words per day (you’ll probably end up writing more than that consistently and hitting your tally quicker, particularly with a spreadsheet to remind you — you will discover it’s actually hard to stop at 350 words).

The word count is small enough and steady enough where you can comfortably fuck doubt right in the ear. You’re creeping through the draft like a burglar. One step at a time. Relax. Breathe. Like that one fish says to that other fish in the movie about all the fucking fish: Just keep swimming. Or for a differnt metaphor, you know how you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME.

Contains Zero Fuckery

This is easy! You can do this! You can do better than this! This is a plan on par with, “Do one push-up every day.” This is, “Don’t pee on the salad bar.” This is a bare minimum, common denominator, common sense, zero fuckery writing plan. You can’t do this, you don’t want to be a writer. You don’t get to be a writer. Not least of all because you can’t carve just a little bit of fat from your day to sizzle up 350 words in your story-skillet.

Lend this plan a little bit of your time.

Give this plan a little bit of your effort.

And in one year’s time, you will have a novel.

It won’t be a masterpiece.

It will need editing.

But it’ll be a first draft of something real.

Something many so-called “writers” never achieve.

One year.

Weekends off.

Just 350 words for 260 days.

Shut up and write.

(EDIT: Did a graphic for this:)

(Feel free to share!)

176 comments

  • Mitchell Willie

    February 20, 2013 at 1:44 PM // Reply

    You have no idea how much I needed to see this today. Thank you for making me feel like a complete tool, and thereby kicking me in the ass.

  • Gus Sanchez

    February 20, 2013 at 8:47 PM // Reply

    This has been exactly the kick in the ass I’ve been needing over the past couple of weeks. Once I get this fucking novel that’s been nagging at me finally written, edited, re-written, edited again, and published, you sir will receive one massive thank you in the Acknowledgements section.

    I will also name my firstborn son Chuck, if me and the missus ever get around to spawning a son.

    Many thanks, my literary sherpa.

  • Eric B

    February 20, 2013 at 9:13 PM // Reply

    This just became my favorite post on writing. And the previous king of the heap was your post from LAST Wednesday (The Hardest Writerly Truth of Them All). I will finish my book because of posts like this. And because my wife won’t let me NOT finish it. Thank you both.

  • rebeccadouglass

    February 20, 2013 at 9:52 PM // Reply

    Funny that I had just reached this same realization, in a way. I’d been fretting that because I was visiting friends I couldn’t have my two hours of writing time (have to be civil, after all). Then I decided that I could write for just a few minutes before bed or before getting up. Just a few hundred words. And that it could be done EVERY DAY NO MATTER WHAT (okay, barring hallucinatory high fevers or unremitting vomiting).

    Then you come along and say so

    Up yours. I thought of it myself.

  • Mary Flavell

    February 20, 2013 at 11:47 PM // Reply

    I’m reminded of Homer Simpson’s reaction to how long it takes to deep fry a cow injected with cheese. ::whine:: 45 secoonnndddsssss??? But I want it noooowwwwwww!!!! This is how I feel about my novel and and I’ve had to figuratively slap myself a few times and say “shut it!” Somehow, in the post NaNo slump, my goal of finishing the book by writing a little every day, I got caught up in the disappointment that it would take WAY longer to write the second half of the book than the one month the first half took. So, naturally, I kept putting it off until I could devote some “real time” to it. Idiot. If I had followed this plan from December 1st, I’d have nearly 20,000 more words now. Idiot. So it’s amusing that I just happen to see this post the very DAY after I shook myself like a crying baby and said “shut up and just do it already!” Thanks for the kick.

  • Jenni

    February 21, 2013 at 2:13 AM // Reply

    Too awesome. I have made that graphic my desktop picture. It will greet me every time I open my laptop and prompt me to ask myself “Have you written 350 words today?” and hopefully NOT followed by “… why the fuck not?”

    Thank you!

  • Marshy

    February 21, 2013 at 4:59 AM // Reply

    This is fuckin awesome. Thank you. -Personal situation: raising 4 kids that aren’t mine or my signifigant other’s. Life gets in the way. This gives me no excuse. I will do this.

  • W E Patterson

    February 21, 2013 at 11:35 AM // Reply

    I’ll keep this short…gotta get back to work on my novel…this is the best damn motivational advice for writing a book I have ever read…printing your graphic and posting over my desk…
    Tks

  • Bewildered

    February 21, 2013 at 8:22 PM // Reply

    I’d like to know more about Liquor and Monkey Wrestling. Is the liquor for the monkeys or the spectators? Or maybe it’s for the referees. Are the matches televised or are they kept out of public view like dogfights and cock fights.

    Bewildered

  • Phil Norris

    February 22, 2013 at 8:09 AM // Reply

    Just created a spreadsheet to track my word count, as of today I’ve got 11,994 words, based on the 5 day/360 words per day writing program that averages at 342 a day. So without knowing it I’ve been on the right track.

  • alent1234

    February 22, 2013 at 12:30 PM // Reply

    the initial writing is easy, editing is the annoying part

    i have a bunch of novel ideas and want to do a 12000-15000 word short story first. its almost done but finishing the editing is so annoying and gets me lazy.

  • thecollegenovelista

    February 22, 2013 at 4:42 PM // Reply

    You are a literary baller. Thank you so much for writing this article. A lot of people think that writing a novel is impossible because they don’t have the willpower and the drive needed to actually get down to work and get stuff done. More people should read this article. I think I’m going to link to it on my blog.

  • SD Harrison

    February 22, 2013 at 8:33 PM // Reply

    Holy WTF? Jeez this is just what I needed…a kick in my lazy ass. Thank you for the impetus and levity I needed to get thru my willpower malaise and finish the last chapters of this novel. I think I’ll pass this on to my critique partners. I’m making you a part of my blog reading!

  • Bob A

    February 23, 2013 at 11:02 AM // Reply

    Will assume it works just as well no matter what the book. Mine’s a memoir and, you’re right. 350 words happens while you’re nodding off into your keyboard!

  • renée a. schuls-jacobson

    February 23, 2013 at 12:54 PM // Reply

    I’m going to call BULLSHIT. I look at these posts and I see how many of your commenters are men — and how many of these commenters are college-aged. Give me a FUCKING BREAK.

    I’m 45, and I have a family. And everyone has needs. I cant just tell people to fuck themselves. That I’m writing. Sorry, that wins you the shittiest parent of the year award. I chose to have a family. So I have to figure out some balance here. All this screaming about how you “just have to do it” is making me anxious. I’m not kidding. Do you have kids? Are they allowed to come in and talk to you when you are on your computer? Do you take them places? Do you have to go grocery shopping and put the groceries away? Do you do the laundry or bring out the garbage? Do you make meals? Or do you have some trusty side-kick who does these daily tasks for you. If you do, bully for you! As for me, it’s going to take longer to write a good novel.

    Because I care about the product. And let’s not forget, there is editing. And then querying (or figuring out the self-pubbing part of the business).

    Sheesh.

    • Bob A

      February 23, 2013 at 3:16 PM // Reply

      Sorry – long past college age. I’m 72, so I feel a different type of time constraint. Ya wanna swap? I didn’t think so…..I don’t hear commitment in your whining.

    • terribleminds

      February 23, 2013 at 3:58 PM // Reply

      @Renee –

      Jeez, tell us how you really feel, wontcha?

      Here’s the thing — I’m going to be a bit of a jerk in pointing out that you have a blog. Rasjacobson.com. And there you blog with some frequency. And there you blog posts of — having plugged a handful into Word to get a word count — 500 words, sometimes close to 1000.

      So, I don’t quite buy you’re having a hard time carving out 350 words per day.

      We all make choices. Three hundred and fifty words is a very, very small amount. It is manageable. If you are determined to do it, you’ll find a way. If not, you won’t. I know that’s easier said than done, but that’s how life works.

      Good luck with whatever you choose.

      – c.

    • Hal Johnson

      February 24, 2013 at 1:11 PM // Reply

      I’m a dad, not a mom, but I can to a degree feel some of Renee’s frustration. I think it’s a fact that in most Mom-Dad-Kids households, Mom is the hub of the wheel of family life. Mom’s have an extra burden in most households. Still, I hope she can get past what seems to me to be a resentment of those of us bearing penis. Reading her blog, she strikes me as a talented writer, and I hope she’ll use what she can of Wendig’s Rule of 350, and not let herself get bogged down in resentment.

    • LGVazquez

      February 24, 2013 at 3:38 PM // Reply

      A dad here. 35. Kid, wife, dog, full time job, bills, home improvement crap, travel, friends, gaming, “research” (comics, movies, novels)… So far, I’ve managed 350 words or more per day since this post broke out, without sacrificing any family time.

      We all get the same time as everyone else. If you want to write fiction bad enough…yeah, you just have to do it. Or, you can spend time complain on other blogs.

    • mittensmorgul

      February 24, 2013 at 3:44 PM // Reply

      Yeah, I’m 39 in a few weeks, and I have a family. I shop for groceries, clean the house, and take out the garbage. I also try to spend at least an hour every day writing. Some days are better than others. Some days I get a big fat nothing. Other days, I get on a roll and write thousands of words. I will stay up later than I should, wake up earlier than I’d like to, or miss out on things that I’d otherwise enjoy. My husband and daughter went out to dinner together the other night, and I stayed home to write. In the hour they were gone, I wrote 1500 words.

      My daughter knows she’s allowed to interrupt me, but she knows that I will sometimes stick a hand in her face and keep typing until I finish whatever thought I was working through. Sometimes we’ll have pizza for dinner instead of a fancy home-cooked meal, so I can have a few more minutes to write in the evening.

      Yes, the housework sometimes falls by the wayside. But I will bring my laptop with me to work on during girl scout meetings and chorus practices. It all comes down to what you are willing to give up. If you’re not willing to make the kids help with laundry (or if they’re too young to help), that’s fine. If writing isn’t your biggest priority, that’s fine. But do not try to use your busy life as an excuse. We’re all busy. We all have lives.

      This DOES NOT mean that I win shittiest parent of the year. If that’s your only justification for not writing more, and you’re okay with that delusion, then fine. You can think I’m a bad parent if it helps you get through the day without feeling guilty that you aren’t writing. I never neglect my child, or any other important thing that needs to be taken care of. I’ve just given up other things because writing IS important to me. If it’s important enough to you, you will find the time to do it. Simple as that.

      Everyone needs personal time to recharge, alone time to keep from losing your mind. I use my for writing. Just know that if you’re using “I’m a busy mom!” as an excuse not to write, that’s all it is. An excuse. No judging, just truth.

    • ajhawthorn

      February 24, 2013 at 3:45 PM // Reply

      I’m a full time mother of 2 awesome kids. I have a full time job where I work night-shift at a hospital. I juggle Dr.’s appointments for 2 of my family members who have mental illness issues. And yes, I buy the groceries and do the laundry.

      Last December I wrote and published my first novella and it wasn’t self published. All I did was give up watching TV and buckle down.

    • Lu

      February 24, 2013 at 4:36 PM // Reply

      This comes off as pretty dang defensive, so much so that I thought, hell, why not comment.

      My street cred: 30 year old mom of four (14, 12, 5, 2). The economy has been hard on my family and I am the current breadwinner. This means I work as an attorney (not one of the rich ones, though) and I also work teaching university classes on the side (two jobs, if you’re counting). I am also in charge of all that fun stuff that comes with the wife/mom world, like organizing our home, packing lunches, managing the schedule, soccer practice, swim practice, school volunteer events, etc.

      I can still write 350 words a day. During the drafting stage I usually average 700 – 1200. And that doesn’t make me the shittiest parent of the year (the story behind how I got the award is for another blog post).

      Maybe the onslaught of advice like this from other men just pisses you off – the idea that you have to write a minimum of three hours a day, 365 days a year, at an oak desk you polish with the tears of your children. I’ve read lots of advice along those lines, and it pisses me off plenty.

      Anyhow, this post was not that advice. This post was from a parent who happens to be a successful writer and also, you know, pretty down with women’s rights and shit.

      This post was also just about the first draft. Hell yeah everything that comes after is harder. You can get 350 out pretty easy. Doing a large scale revision or edits is much harder to squeeze into small time increments (and by the way, Chuck, I would welcome a post like this for how you manage the later drafts in little increments – that’s where I find the biggest challenge. Really. Help a girl out.).

      I hope you keep writing. I like your blog. I hope your family thrives. I also hope you don’t feel like you have to imply those of us who are already there are somehow shitty parents.

      • renée a. schuls-jacobson

        February 24, 2013 at 4:54 PM // Reply

        Wow! I didn’t mean to get everyone’s panties into a bunchy kerfluffle. Bottom line. I write waaaaaay more than 350 words a day.

        Writing isn’t hard. I am trying to figure out how to get through edits.

        I’m not producing 350 words a day right now on my WIP. But I am still writing 350 words a day — if not on my book, than on my blog. Like Lu up there, I have worked until quite recently as a professor, but I’m working my butt off to complete this book. Complete it. So for people to question my drive is absurd.

        I’m trying to figure out how to work through the large scale edits now — which is a totally different kind of energy. And like Lu, I would LOVE to hear how you manage drafts in increments because I find it just soooo baffling. I feel like I need to sit down for 12 hours and just chug through it.

        Except I never have 12 hours of uninterrupted time.

        Who does?

        I wasn’t trying to imply that people who are “already there” are shitty parents. I just don’t appreciate the SAME REFRAIN as NIKE’s “Just do it.” I am doing it. I’m trying to figure out how other people are doing it while maintaining some semblance of balance. Because the answer cannot be: there is no balance.

        My comment wasn’t meant to become a pissing match where everyone talks about how much they do.

        I get it.

        We are all busy.

        My complaint was about the refrain: JUST WRITE.

        It doesn’t seem to carry over when you are at edits. Or query letters.

        • Lu

          February 24, 2013 at 5:48 PM // Reply

          I do understand where you’re coming from. The just write advice doesn’t help as much with edits, and when you have a damn finished book and are having a hard time carving out time for edits, it’s frustrating (understatement of the year – and this is where I am right now, for the record).
          Best of luck to you (and me, and all of us).

          • renée a. schuls-jacobson

            February 24, 2013 at 7:05 PM //

            Hi Lu. Nice to meet you. Yes, yes and yes! Editing is such a different energy. In my first draft, my protagonist put on her shoes three times in one chapter. Ugh. It was a freaking mess. So now it’s cleaner, but still… it is slow going. Good luck to you on your manuscript. I hope Chuck does write something for those of us at the next step.

            For the record, I didn’t see the tiny print that said “first draft only.”

            ::ducks and runs for the door::

        • Hal Johnson

          February 24, 2013 at 6:03 PM // Reply

          Thanks, Renee. My panties are now unbunchie kerfluffled, but my wife is mad because I stretched out her panties. I get where you’re coming from, since I’ve until now only written magazine articles and short stories. I’ve been able to get by with an edit-as-I-go approach, which ain’t gonna work with longer stuff, I suspect. Still, the modest word count goal is working out well for getting the draft underway. Good luck with getting your work completed.

          • renée a. schuls-jacobson

            February 24, 2013 at 6:58 PM //

            Hi Hal. I write freelance and have had a few articles published in online publications. But as far as my WIP goes, that’s a while different energy!

            I’m on draft 3 of edits. And the next step is beta readers, so I’m not writing 350 words each day right now. But I’m having to do so much other stuff.

            And there will be more edits, I’m sure — once beta feedback comes in. And I have NO IDEA what to do with that feedback.

            Nice to meet you!

  • tstate74

    February 23, 2013 at 7:34 PM // Reply

    “If you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” Also going to say I run a website, have a full time job, three daughters and a husband and I STILL manage to write. You have to come to a point in your writing ‘career’ where you decide if you want to marry writing or if you just wanna screw around with it. There are no secrets to writing successfully. You have to sit your butt in the chair and write and rewrite and rewrite more. Also? 350 is nothing. If you can’t manage that, you have no business writing. IMHO anyway.

  • s.a.meade

    February 24, 2013 at 3:22 PM // Reply

    I have a full time job as a freelance editor, I have a family to look after. At the end of the working day, I write. some nights it’s 500, sometimes it’s 1,000. I write because I love to, it’s what I do. I’ve written 5 books and sold them. And, yeah, I care very much about what I write. Over that period of time I also lost a full time job, had to move lock stock and barrel across the Atlantic, find a job, lose a job, find one again.
    If you’re serious about writing, you make the time.
    Simples.

  • robertatrahan

    February 24, 2013 at 3:23 PM // Reply

    I’m going to call “BULLSHIT” on calling bullshit. It took me ten years to write a publishable novel, but I did it. Whatever I could. One day at a time. I managed to raise great kids right along with my writing career AND I’m still married. It you’re a writer, you write. That’s all.

  • kitiandra

    February 24, 2013 at 3:45 PM // Reply

    To echo a lot of people here, you will find the time to do what you really, truly want to do. I have a 5 yr old, I have a husband, 2 cats and a house to take care of, laundry to do, dinners to make. It takes 30 mins for a washer load to finish here, and I run upstairs to sit at the laptop and crank out whatever words I can get in that time. I have my laptop or paper in the kitchen when I’m making dinner sometimes, to finish a scene before we eat as a family. My kid gets mommy time and also talks to me while I’m writing and yeah it’s hard and yeah sometimes it can be overwhelming, but we make time for what we want to do, even if it means grabbing as little as 10 minutes at a time.

  • Michael

    February 24, 2013 at 3:54 PM // Reply

    If you can’t manage 350 words a day you suffer from severe fuckarounditis and/or distractionitis.

    2 kids, one toddler and a teenager, pregnant wife, IT consultant, and imaginary ninja – so yeah I got stuff to do.

    This, above, was 10 percent of 350.

  • lupaket

    February 24, 2013 at 4:04 PM // Reply

    Hmmm…I see negative commenting.
    All. Excuses.
    I am a mom of 3 homeschooled teens, one of whom is ADHD (I swear that boy never sleeps!). Yet I write all the time. I’ve written 350 words standing in the grocery line. I’ve written 350 in the Dr.’s waiting room. I’ve written 350 waiting for my gas to finish pumping while standing in 30F weather in January. Hell, I’ve written 350 while waiting at a red light at rush hour.
    The point is that you should stop making excuses and get to writing! I’ve homeschooled my kids their entire lives, dealing with each of their special needs as they arose & still found a way to make words appear on paper.
    Were they good words? Maybe. Maybe not. BUT, DAMMIT, THEY WERE WORDS!!
    You can’t edit what you haven’t written. I may not get the chance to properly edit & try to publish what I have written until my kids are all out on their own & not banging on the bathroom door while I sit on the toilet doing my business & scribbling in the tiny notebook I keep hidden there, but I will keep writing until I get that chance. (*whew* That may be the longest sentence I’ve ever written!)
    Thanks Chuck.

  • Scott

    February 24, 2013 at 8:28 PM // Reply

    Great timing!! I usually write more than 350 a day but it typically gets spread out across several different projects. I guess that could be construed as a certain flavor of fuckery. I’d never sat down and done the math. Your piece definitely provides some much needed impetus. Thank you.

  • Alejandra

    February 25, 2013 at 4:02 PM // Reply

    What a great idea! 350 words is feasible and something I can do, even with a full time job. Thank you so much for your blog!! You always give me a kick in the butt when I need it, but also give great writing tips like nothing I’ve ever heard/read before!! :D

  • Raechel Hudson

    February 26, 2013 at 10:01 PM // Reply

    Well, I would just like you all to know, especially you, oh mighty Wendigo, that this post gave me some of the gumption it took to make me bunker down and finish my shit. I actually did it. No, I have not been doing the suggested 350 words a day – I’ve been so excited about finish this damn thing that I often have exceeded 3,000 per day. In the fuzzy hours of around 3am last night, my full first draft was dragged kicking and screaming into being.
    Thanks Chuck, for all the wondrous kicks in the pants.

  • susanmacnicol

    March 1, 2013 at 7:38 AM // Reply

    Chuck you are a great inspiration. I love your blog and the no nonsense kick ass approach to writing. Too many people make excuses. I’m a full time mum, wife and employee and I’ve written seven novels in less than a year by just hunkering down and using every minute I have to write, write, write. Sure, I ignored my family, my social life went down to a ball of crap, I didn’t eat (a pleasing side affect has been the weight loss) and everyone thinks I’m crazy but….(don’t try this at home if it will make trouble for you lol) I even found a publisher to take them all on. So I’m living proof if you stop the effing about, you can do it.
    Great site, great advice.

  • CajoleMuse

    March 14, 2013 at 6:44 AM // Reply

    I need to read and re-read this every day in order to follow this credo. Yes, I will! Yes, I will! Yes, I will…

  • Jackie

    March 19, 2013 at 4:16 AM // Reply

    I just joined because I have been looking for like-minded people out there who have written a novel (yes, many, many words long) who are jumping into pumping energy into book 2 in the planned trilogy and give each other inspiration. I am not into whining and whinging about family and not enough hours and long work days – I HAVE ALL THAT ALREADY! Just encouragement to keep going and pushing forward to finally see my trilogy up on shelves in book stores. C’mon encourage folks because it can get very lonely and disheartening out there in the wide, wild literary world. Thank you, Chuck for reigniting the fire and making me feel like I can bloody-well do this!

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