On Saturday, the kids and I went on a bike ride.
We’re mismatched bikers. My teenage son is the super biker, easily losing us without even realizing it. My daughter is still on a little-kid bike with no gears, and I need to stick behind her to make sure she doesn’t get left behind. Me? I’ll fall off the bike if I bike too slowly…which sometimes happens when the greenway gets too sandy and my daughter pops off her bike unexpectedly to walk the trail instead of bike it. I always seem to think I can stay on the bike just going slowly behind her as she walks…but I topple off it, instead.
There was a man running on the greenway while the children and I were on our bike ride. To me, he was sort of like Pepe Le Pew from the Bugs Bunny cartoons…not for any olfactory reasons, but because no matter how hard we biked, he always ended up right on the point of passing us.
Obviously, this is because we were stopping a lot. My daughter had to stop once because her legs hurt. The chain on my son’s bike came off once and we stopped to get it back on. My daughter stopped for water a couple of times.
Each time my daughter and I stopped, my son kept biking ahead until a point where he realized we weren’t there anymore (which seemed to take a while.) So my daughter and I ended up pedaling really fast to catch up. Which wore me out (since I’m no longer designed to be a speedy biker) and then I had to stop and rest.
And each time we got passed by this man in his late-50s who was jogging along very steadily. Every time I’d hear the pat-pat-pat of his feet, I’d look up with disbelief. No matter how fast we’d been biking before, our little pit stops meant he always caught up quickly.
Finally I said to him, “I think it’s really sad that you’re going faster than us and we’re on bikes!” Which he thought was funny, although he blushed a little.
But it’s like that, isn’t it, for a lot in life—slow and steady wins the race.
Before deadlines ruled my writing life, I always wrote a page a day. I remember telling the critique group that I was in at the time my daily goal…and they thought I wasn’t writing enough.
But—I ended up with a finished book before they did. That page a day was manageable for me. So I did it every day, without fail.
If I feel like I’m behind with a book and start scrambling, I’ll end up burned out or irritated with the manuscript or myself.
If I go too slow, I get overwhelmed by the project and the amount I have left to write.
It’s like a New Year’s Resolution—it’s better not to make a resolution to lose twenty pounds. Better to make a resolution to cut out junky afternoon snacks, or to stop drinking soda, or to walk twice a week or something else that’s more manageable. Something we’ll actually do.
Because everyone wants to feel successful. And if we haven’t set ourselves up for success with our pacing, it’s easy to just ditch the project altogether when we get frustrated or burned out.
How are you pacing yourself?
What a lovely post, Elizabeth. So true about slow and steady. So very very true.
And I loved the story of your bike ride too.
I have to keep pacing myself but I don’t try to keep up with others. My own worst enemy is myself. I’m too hard on me.
CD
You know, when I first started writing, I didn’t have a pace. I wrote for however long I had time for. I didn’t know I had to produce a certain amount because I didn’t consider myself a writer. I was filling time while job hunting.
Now I know all the writerly rules and expectations and find myself bogged down with them.
I still write whenever I can – but now I do it with guilt because I don’t have the same amount of time I used to when I first started.
But you’re so right about not setting up a large goal. The next story always gets written, and revised. Now I focus on short stories insted of novels, but its still writing.
I enjoyed this post immensely. Thanks so much.
……dhole
My intention was to write three times a week for a minimum of twenty minutes each session. I did that for awhile, but these last few weeks I’ve allowed that to slip away. Thanks for the reminder that slow and steady works just fine.
karen
Elizabeth – What a wonderful analogy!! I agree completely that pacing oneself is crucial. In the rest of life, of course, it’s essential for a healthy lifestyle. It is in writing, too. I have found that if I push too hard, my writing isn’t good, anyway. When I pace myself I enjoy it more, so my writing is better. It reminds me of a great Pennsylvania Dutch expression: The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get.
Teenage boys are not easy to keep track of, in particular at night …
Slow and steady can give nice results. Maybe I should adapt your 1 page a day philosophy. Then I would write 365 (possibly 366) pages per year, which isn’t too bad >:)
Cold As Heaven
You’ve hit it (as if that should be a surprise). Goals have to be manageable and measurable.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
You’re right, Elizabeth. Pacing is very important. I try for 1,000 words a day – with gaps of a week to recharge when I need it.
Your biking story is like my jogging experience. It’s always good to go at your own pace. When I jog with others – I find that depending how fast they jog, I can’t help but compare them to me – going too slow if they’re fast, going too fast if they’re slow.
And I have to remind myself that I have my own pace and to stick with it because I’m more likely to keep at it.
Jessie Mac
http://www.jessiemac.com
You are so right. Right now real life is sending me too many pit stops.
However, the reason my moniker is the “daring” novelist is not because write daring material, but because I try to make my whole life one continuous novel dare.
I try to do a goal of 1000 words a day most of the time, but I try to be flexible so I can keep it steady.
Excellent post, Elizabeth. This is terrific advice!
Great story, thanks for sharing. Sometimes I think I need a pacemaker to keep up with my pace!
This is so true. I am an expert in putting too much on my to-do list, so that doing anything at all feels overwhelming. The problem is of course when you have no choice – life hands you multiple tasks with a firm deadline.
Unfortunately, I’m not pacing myself very well. I make lists of things I need to do, then take delight in marking things off. (But I always have things left over to do the next day.)
I’m trying to pace myself, although there seems to be so much to do before my book comes out. I finally stopped worrying that I wasn’t writing the next one fast enough, though.
I have been setting aside an hour a day approximately. I am trying to get ready for NaNoWriMo by finishing up my current WIP’s first draft (doing about 1,100 words/day). I suppose I am conditioning for the big marathon hehe. I think as long as you keep a consistent pace that feels right for you that is what matters.
Rayna–Thanks so much! We’re trying to exercise together, but it’s hard when we’re all different ages and sizes!
Clarissa–I think we’re frequently our own worst enemy!
Donna–Sometimes the more we learn, the more we get messed up! Short stories definitely count. I think even blogging keeps our hand in it. I hate feeling writing guilt because writing is my favorite thing to do! But it happens…
Cold As Heaven–I’m not looking forward to upcoming teen years! I’ll keep him 13 for a while. :)
That was my way of thinking. And with my genre, it’s more like 275 pages that are needed. So, really, just one page a day can get you a book in a year’s time or less.
Jessie–That sounds like a great goal—you’re making good headway and not burning yourself out in the process.
I can only imagine jogging with someone…I’d be the slow one! And that’s, unfortunately, one reason why a couple of my critique groups didn’t work out–too many comparisons with the other writers. But we all write at different paces, different genres, different voices. It’s really comparing apples to oranges.
Karen–Making it really small can help! Good luck.
Margot–I don’t know that expression…but it hit the nail on the head! I think that when I hurry, I tend to make more mistakes….no matter what it is that I’m doing.
Laura–Thanks so much!
Terry–Thanks! And great post on transitions today on Marvin’s blog.
The Old Silly–You are doing a LOT. And, of course, when you’ve got a new release like you do, it means a lot less time for creative things.
Helen–That to-do list never seems to end, does it? :)
Alex–I think, as long as we’re hitting our deadlines, then we’re good!
The Daring Novelist–I think you’re having some fun trips during your pit stops, though!
I like the way you’re daring yourself! And I think that’s the best terminology to use–that way, we’re encouraging ourselves to see how well we can do, but not making it some inflexible goal that’s a really challenging one.
Rayvenne–That’s some good conditioning! And you’re right–we’ve got to think about what’s good for us and what we’re trying to accomplish.
What a fabulous post. I am FINALLY coming to accept that when I write FAST the mickey will come back out of me in the edit… it is that much harder to clean up, and it is just going to take the amount of time it takes, however I do it. It doens’t mean I will give up the sprints (you know me and my FOMS) but it really is coming through as I painstakingly edit my quickly written book.
Hart–It’s true, isn’t it? The work has to be done, whether it’s on the front end or the back end of the project. So no point in really going extremely fast, unless that’s how you work best and you won’t get burned out that way. Even now my word count goals aren’t huge and I’ve got a Nov. 1 deadline.
Cruella–Isn’t that rotten when that happens? I think, maybe, we should also have a plan B? For just in case our plan gets derailed.