Always in the mood

If today has proven anything to me, it's that any time is a good time to write.

I've heard a lot of people say that they have to be in the right mood or the correct frame of mind to be able to sit down and work on their novels. To me, that's just horsepucky.

There have been times where I have sat down and really felt like writing, and I knock out a bunch of words and feel that sense of accomplishment. There are times where I have sat down and said "man, I don't feel like doing this right now," but I knocked out a bunch of words, and still felt a sense of accomplishment.

I've said this before, but I've promised myself that I'm going to write at least 1,000 words per day by hook or by crook, and I won't accept anything less. It keeps me involved in what I'm working on, and it keeps the story and characters and everything else fresh and bubbly in my head.

Today, I was going on about 4 hours of sleep when I went and helped a couple of good friends move into their new house for the bulk of the day. I got home and ate. One of the last thing I wanted to do was start dealing with the problems of the folks in my novel. I wanted to lie down and go to sleep.

But I knew I couldn't do that. I've got a book to write, dag nabbit! An hour later, I had nearly 1,300 words, and have a good idea of where I'm going to start off tomorrow. Done, and done.

I know, I know. It's different strokes for different folks. No two writers go about getting their stuff from brain to flash drive in the same fashion. But my advice would make Phil Knight proud: Just Do It.

Whatever works for particular writers is going to work. But what happens when you're not in the right mood for a few days? And your characters get stale? Or worse, they get bored and take off from your consciousness?

This is something that I want to be doing. It's just me, but I'm not going to wait for the mood to strike. Whether it's there or not, and you write stuff you wind up taking out later, that's all part of the process. And it's all helpful.