Today was a "holy shit" moment for me: this has been an 18-month writing journey of nearly 400,000 words.
I'm notoriously awful at accepting compliments. Worse, I hate talking about myself. Ok look, I get how ironic that sounds since I write a blog with personal essays and a podcast. But think about it—really think for a second... most of what I share is self-deprecating.
I admit, that's by design because it feels like a loophole.
Publishing personal stuff challenges me to be vulnerable. But I often disguise my vulnerability by highlighting where I've fallen down and then by brushing past the parts where I got back up. I like to think I'm getting better at not relying on that so much, but I'm a work in progress.
So, challenge me as it may, I'm pushing myself to share something I'm proud of.
As I've been fleshing out what kind of book I'm writing during The MAP Year project, I wanted to know just how long "real" writing is supposed to be, and what the pros do to create it. Then, of course, I went digging to find out how I stack up.
It's been a little over 18 months of publishing online again after a multi-year hiatus, and in that time I've now written ~400,000 words.
...umm... excuse me?
What??
I don't know why, but I was stunned by that. Don't get me wrong, writing's been the goal. I've intentionally been chipping away, knowing my effort will compound. But something about seeing it laid out like that just hits different. I mean... Stephen King famously writes 1,000 words /day and, apparently, I've been averaging close to that with ~700 words/day?
That's ~5,000 words/week.
Just to put things into perspective, this means—in the last 18 months—I've written the equivalent of eight Great Gatsbys or five Harry Potters.
I...um, I just...
I've been so focused on my goal of becoming a "real" writer, breaking it down into small steps I can take to get myself there, that I completely missed something huge...
I already am one.
Ask a close friend to share something they think you're good at. Then ask them to describe why. Now ask yourself: how did I get good at that thing?
Are you surprised by either answer?
onward.
-dmac