What does it feel like to write five hundred words? This is the question which crossed my mind this morning as I sat, slightly lost, at the computer in Mike’s London flat. I have written plenty of things before, but there are some longer things I would like to write. Perhaps a novel or two, a book about how to do change management the way I think it ought to be done, short stories, albeit stories just under 50,000 words.
You can’t just produce that sort of writing in a couple of minutes. It needs to be done over time, and so, what is it like? Well, I can tell you right now some of the immediate experiences are psychological. Already I feel a little more positive and upbeat because instead of thinking about doing something I am actually doing something. I should probably, yes, write that one down.
It’s not all positive though, although I can type, mostly without looking at the keys I am now realising I make quite a few mistakes, which interrupts the flow of words onto the page. Honestly, it is a little bit frustrating as this isn’t something I have really considered as one of the challenges I will need to overcome. Then again, why should I care? There’s plenty of evidence from my life and others that as I work on writing regularly all of the associated skills will improve steadily too.
If anything, I should make some effort to re-train my fingers and get away from what I am doing now, typing with my index and perhaps second and third fingers some of the time and move on to typing more properly. Not least as I cannot rely on the joints of my fingers to continue to operate like this without picking up some pain and damage. Which is the last thing I (anyone?) wants when you are trying to do something positive.
I feel fortunate, whoops, I looked at the bottom of the page where Word is keeping count. 326 words at that point. How do I feel about that. Well, I can say I now realise I was hoping I could sit and confidently bash out 500 words or more before I looked, else I would have been checking the whole time.
The other side to taking a peek is that it is similar to the experience of running or walking on a treadmill. When you look at the time there is still quite a bit left, the game isn’t up just yet, but you have made progress. I think my preferred experience there is when you are already past halfway, or at least when you have completed some recognisable proportion. A third, or some other fraction for example. That helps because it lets you more accurately think about what it is going to be like to finish. If I have written about 350 words, I can also admit to myself that writing can be done. Words can appear on the page and I can be the person who takes all of the responsibility for putting them there. Speaking of there, we are there and since I am trying to be honest with myself I will stop here for today and see whether I cannot do this again tomorrow.