For as long as I’ve been doing this writing thing, writers have predominantly counted their words as a measure of progress. That never really made sense to me because, frankly, some days I end up negative in the word count department, having emptied some of the shelves of products that just weren’t selling.
Progress is progress, whether it’s etching words into stone or wiping chalk lines from a blackboard. Whatever your process as a writer, every minute you spend working on your manuscript is a step you need to take to create the finished version containing all of those final words. What’s more, when you’re getting those really good words you know you’re going to keep, the ones that will end up carved on the monument, that’s really good progress. Right? That’s the ideal, isn’t it?
Trouble is “progress is progress” isn’t very satisfying because, well, how much progress did I make today?
I’m a staunch supporter of the idea that a writer’s process is a writer’s process. What works for you is what works for you. That’s valid, and nobody can take it away from you. Part of coming to know yourself as a writer is knowing what works for you as a writer and identifying your process.
Which is why I think counting words is a bit of a distraction.
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