Get Off the Word Count Treadmill
“Almost every person who sits in my client chair is exhausted, fatigued, or burned out,” Jeanna Kadlec writes in her latest Astrology for Writers post. “And simultaneously wondering why they don’t have the energy to write 1000 words a day.”
Kadlec invites us to rethink our relationship with creativity—specifically, to rethink the way we evaluate that relationship using productivity as our yardstick. And she encourages us to walk away from the notion of sticking to a writing schedule in favor of cultivating a writing practice.
I was trying to figure out why this post resonated so strongly with me, and then I realized it was echoing, in its way, another post I’d read recently by Kaitlyn Greenidge, who was explaining why she hadn’t sent out a newsletter in more than two years. (And you thought my hiatuses were long!) “I do not feel like I can sustain the regular amount of content for a newsletter and also do the type of writing work I wish to do,” Greenidge confided. “I am going to stop feeling beholden to producing content and look at this as more as a space to hold certain thoughts and questions as they arise.”
I encourage you to think of your writing practice along these lines as well.