Most writers set some sort of productivity goals for themselves. It’s important to keep yourself motivated and on-track to complete your projects. You don’t have to finish a story to call yourself a writer, but it’s not a bad habit to get into.
On the other hand, it’s good to schedule breaks once in a while. For the not-yet paid professional, life gets in the way. And you can burn yourself out if you don’t chill occasionally.
In an interview with CrimeReads, Alex Segura says that you don’t have to write every day to consider yourself a writer. “I think I could be taking a walk on a Tuesday thinking about my story and not write a word, and I’m still writing,” he says. “I’m still a writer, you know? And then the next day, I’ll write two-thousand words because of that day before.”
Segura has daily word count aspirations, but doesn’t hold himself to a set goal, as long as he moves the ball forward every day. “It’s the same way with any job,” he says. “If you have a day where you’re not as productive, you come home and do the work you didn’t do during the day. If I miss a few days, I know I’ll make up for it. In your heart, you know when you’re treating writing like a professional, and you know when you’re not.”
That self-assessment is important. “You just have to be honest with yourself,” Segura insists. “You’re not going to get to the good stuff until you put in the work. That first draft is going to be pretty shitty. You’re going to have to go back and rework the whole thing from page one, all the way through to the end. Again and again.”
