There’s a cadence to an auctioneer’s sing-song voice, the way that (usually) he calls out the prices, tries to entice the bid to go higher (do I hear four forty? how about four fifty? Okay, now four sixy….) out of an audience that could be fairly receptive to the item being offered or not. I’ve seen it at the livestock auctions I used to attend. Sometimes as a seller, but more often out of curiosity where, when presented with a fluffy bunny or a unique breed of chicken, became a buyer.
Writing can be a lot like that.
My daily word count for projects is usually 1000 words. That’s a nice, round number, one that if I’m in the zone and focused I can usually do in about thirty to forty-five minutes depending on just how fast I’m typing. Sometimes the words come out so quickly I’ve hit my goal before I know it, lost in the scene and the magic that I’m creating. Other times, the words creep out one by one, with long pauses in the middle.
Because I’m in tune with my creative nervous system (Check out Author Yogi if you want to learn more about the creative nervous system.) I know when I sit down to the keyboard whether my brain and creative nervous system is with me or not. Though I’m doing so much better than I had been, there are still days when I sit down and my brain is like NOPE. Or the desire to write is there, but the words, they’re just not coming.
When that happens, I start to write like an auctioneer.
Okay, do I hear 250 words? 250? 250? Going once, twice, SOLD to the author at the keyboard.
I start typing. If i make 250 I pause and evaluate my progress. How am I doing? Can I write some more? Did I break the ice so to speak and the words are flowing?
Okay, now how about 500 words? Do we hear 500 words?
If I’m lucky I start typing again.
Or there are the days when it’s like “We’re going to start the bidding at 100 words….”
I try not to go lower than that. Any good auction seller knows that it’s good to set a reserve on your prized offerings.
Some days the words go “unsold” or in this case “unwritten”.
But usually once I get myself started (that’s the joy of ADHD after all, the executive function to start projects sometimes isn’t there), I can get a few more than my suggested word count written.
And on those days, I close the auction, a happy seller/bidder…err, author.
