How realistic are your writing expectations?
“I will write 2,500 words a week,” one of my writing coach clients assured me.
I had heard this before.
“I love your enthusiasm, but considering what’s happening at work and the fact that you’re dating with a vengeance, do you think you might be setting yourself up for failure?” I asked.
She assured me that she wasn’t.
We had exactly the same conversation the following week, after she had yet again failed to meet her goal. Except that this time she also verbally beat herself up for not living up to her own writing expectations.
Over the next few weeks and months, I urged her to set realistic writing goals that she had a chance of meeting. “I’d much rather that you set an easier goal and then surpass it,” I told her. “Because of your unrealistic writing expectations, instead of being pleased with your accomplishments, you’re always disappointed that you didn’t do more.”
She refused to follow my advice. Instead, she upped her writing expectations, which totally backfired. Eventually she simply abandoned her book, which because of an old but still popular blog she’d written would have almost assuredly garnered tens of thousands of readers.
Her decision saddened me, but it did not surprise me. Think about it. You set writing expectations that you realistically don’t have the time or the energy to meet. As you continue to let yourself down, you feel worse and worse about your lack of writing performance. Enter self-castigation. As the weeks go by, it gets harder and harder to make yourself sit down to the computer or that yellow pad. No wonder. You’ve set up a toxic situation.
If this sounds familiar, I have one question for you. How’s that working for you?
I’m all for setting writing goals that you have to push to meet. I understand that reaching those goals will require sacrifice on other fronts. That’s fine. Just make sure that your writing expectations are realistic. I promise you. Celebrating writing successes is a whole lot more productive than chasing the impossible dream.
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