Write 500 words / day on Molly: Who knows what might happen before midnight?
Exercise 30 minutes / day: 1
Go to bed by 11:00 p.m.: 2
It’s time for some specific, short-term goals:
Monday 5/16: Write 500 words on Molly, exercise 30 minutes, go to bed by 11:00 p.m.
Deal with Tuesday when it gets here.
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Writer and editor Russ Hall, on accepting the Sage Award at today’s Barbara Burnett Smith Aspiring Writers Event, said that we learn to write by a process of “smart recognition”: making mistakes and recognizing when we’ve made them. As Anne Lamott’s father advised, we “take it bird by bird,” knowing that each time the red pen touches the paper, the manuscript gets better. We learn to enjoy and embrace the process, knowing there is still room to grow.
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To see how other ROW80 participants are doing, click here.
M. K. Waller 
What a lovely thought, Kathy….I learnt to write at a reporters desk, where they have the luxury of sub-editors. They were always dragons and dragonesses, who mauled unsuspecting young writers if they put a stylistic foot wrong. They were our smart recognisers. Looking back, we were incredibly lucky to have them, even though it was trial by fire…
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The speech was given at an event designed to pair aspiring writers with mentors. I’ve never had a dragon or dragoness, and if I’d had one would probably have been burned to a crisp, but my critique partners are dainty substitutes.
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How did Monday go? Mine went off the rails at about 10am. Aw well.
Good advice, and not just for writing.
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Mine went off the rails about 10:00 a.m., too. Then spent all afternoon and half the evening with a plumber. Wheee! I guess part of the process is making space for such and the next day picking up and moving on.
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