Quotas
It is now less than four days from launch time for me. I head to Ireland on Saturday. The objective is twofold: (1) start my next book — a novel, and (2) drink a lot of Guinness.
It won’t take much effort to do the latter. Many have asked how I plan to do the former. Going away to start a big writing project is one of my favorite exercises. I hole myself up in the morning and disallow myself the opportunity to go out and explore until I’ve met my daily writing quota. For this project, I aim to return to the states with no less than 12,000 words in the can. That means each day I will be writing an average of 2,000-2,500 words. I’ve also allowed myself one day to rewrite. Even if you don’t plan to visit a foreign country, the quota system is a great way to discipline yourself and make real progress on a big project.