Okay, so I started writing the draft of my book nineteen days ago. I know this because I committed to writing 1000 words a day, and I have 19,000 words written 🙂
Am I proud of my ability to pursue my goal with machine-like consistency? You bet! Even more importantly, I feel totally aligned with this project. It dropped from the ether like ripe fruit ready to pluck. It passes my satisfaction “sniff test:” it is hell yes, a total match, a no-brainer, and it makes me feel alive!
Writing 1000 words each day has felt similar to how I composed music last year: I would sit at the computer–usually early in the day–an idea would come to me, and I would start working with it. Through this process, I wrote 150-ish compositions and had a dandy time doing it.
So it has been with the first phase of the book. The ideas are coming steadily. It helps that I have many years of experience working with piano students. That seems to be where this book wants to go: a collection of time-tested ideas and strategies that I already use with my students to help them play piano.
A note about length: My original plan was to write 90,000 words for the first draft. We’ll see if I need that much or not. The plan is to keep writing out thoughts until I’ve covered the topics I want to cover. At that point, I will start thinking about organizing my material. Who knows? That point could arrive at 90,000 words, or it could arrive sooner. As usual, I will adjust the plan if need be.
Meanwhile, I’m glad that I started with the “90,000 words in 90 days” plan. It got me going!