No Rules, Just Write
By Jeanne M. Fielding


1,000 words a day or more?  You’ve got to be kidding!

As if writing a story wasn’t daunting enough, published writers have killed many a tree imparting the “writing is a discipline” mantra.  “You must commit to writing five gazillion words a day-- no matter how long it takes you.”

My reply when I read these diatribes is, “Pshaw!  As if!”

Perhaps this is why I struggled for so long to consider myself a writer.  I hold a full-time job, co-own a home with my husband, and am the mother of one three-year-old boy.  I think my plate is quite full, thank you.  And yet, two years ago, I found a way to carve out fifteen minutes for myself to write every day.

You read me correctly-- fifteen minutes.

For a wife and mother who also works outside the home, fifteen minutes seems like a lifetime!  What working mother hasn’t wished for two seconds to rub together without a child crashing in, a husband calling out or the boss breathing over your shoulder?  When a friend suggested that I give it a whirl, I scoffed at the idea.  At the time, I didn’t even bathe alone, so how was I about to find fifteen minutes to sit down and write?

I thought about it.  And thought about it some more.  Until, sick to death of being badgered by my friend, I took a break at work, opened up Word, and wrote whatever came into my head.  For about fifteen minutes.

The next day, I did it again, only this time, I picked up where I had left off.

After a week, I actually had the beginnings of a story.  After a month, I had the start of my novel.  In six months, I had a finished manuscript in my hands.

87,000 words.
 

The world didn’t end.
 

My baby is still fed and clothed and loved.
 

My husband hasn’t left me.
 

I still didn’t consider myself a writer.
 

Why?  Because I averaged only about fifteen minutes a day.  Some days I wrote for an hour, some days I didn’t write at all.  When I did write and I was getting somewhere with my story, I was addicted.  Other days, I couldn’t put two words together to save my life-- usually because I was exhausted after having been up every few hours all night long with my son.
 

It wasn’t until another friend of mine took up writing that I found myself telling her that it doesn’t matter how much or how often you write.  Heck, it doesn’t even matter if you have a project to work on.  Find a few minutes each day and write a letter to a friend, jot down some thoughts about the weather, vent your feelings about the guy who cut you off on the thruway.  It doesn’t matter what it is.
 

Just write.


Jeanne M. Fielding is a freelance manuscript editor.  Visit her website for more information on her services and fees -- http://www.freewebs.com/jeannemfielding.

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