I don’t believe in writer’s block. All the successful professional writers I know put more stock in “hard work” than “inspiration.” I do feel drained after I finish a novel (which just happened) and so, I felt a little bit of that burnout today when I started my next novel. I wrote a few hundred words and then decided to work on a short story… something totally different from “High Queen of Badelgard,” something softer and more feeling-based rather than plot-based.

1000 words a day, as proposed by Dean Wesley Smith in his many-yeared wisdom, varies in difficulty for me. Some days I write more than that, and sometimes it’s very draining to accomplish. I disagree on one of his points: I will not publish or send out something I’m not reasonably proud of. Sometimes, I begin the day by deleting the previous day’s 1000 words, and (once I’ve replaced them) consider my goal met.

I believe this is my most productive year yet. 1000 words a day instead of binges… Slow and steady wins the race, as Aesop tells us. (Was it Aesop?) I’ve written 2 novels and innumerable short stories.