Show Up for Yourself

Does word count matter? 

If you are a creative writer of any kind, this can often be a very, very important question to ask yourself. It's December (almost Christmas!! Yayy!!!) and many of you participated in November's national Novel Writing Month. During writing challenges such as these, word count can often become a significant stressor.

I was chatting with my sister Abbie (who also participated in this year's NaNo) recently about word count and whether or not we should be setting emphasis on it as writers. We had a great discussion - one that sparked the idea for the video you'll find just below.

Remember, we write to communicate a good story, not simply to get as many words down on paper as possible. Sometimes we don't need as many words as we think we do to achieve this, while other times we may need more...there is no right or wrong.

Let word count be a prompt when it comes to challenges such as NaNoWriMo, or perhaps goals you set for yourself - but let the true GOAL be to simply...show up. Show up for your book and show up for yourself. If you do that? Your project is already a success.

3 MINDFUL TAKEAWAYS:

• showing up > the amount of words you write

• writing a story that MATTERS and that will make a positive impact is way more important than how long it is.

• Your readers don't care about how many words are in your book. They care about engaging with a wholesome and compelling story that will linger in their minds and hearts long after they've closed the covers.

Now it's YOUR turn! Do you keep track of word count? What's the #1 most important goal you've set for yourself with your writing? How do you maintain a healthy relationship with word count? Let's chat below in the comments!

Merry Christmas, creative souls!

kate