“Size defeats us. For the fish, the lake in which he lives is the universe. What does the fish think when he is jerked up by the mouth through the silver limits of existence and into a new universe where the air drowns him and the light is blue madness?”
― Stephen King, The Gunslinger
I’ve been reviewing some of my favorite writing advice lately as I deal with the ups and downs of drafting my next novel. Some days I feel great about it, others the self-doubt rears its ugly head. If you’ve been following along with my recent updates–including today’s–you’ll know that my current work-in-progress is turning out to be a bit of a behemoth. There are times when I feel like I’ll never finish it.
So when I stumbled on this quote from The Gunslinger yesterday, it reminded me of some excellent advice I took to heart when working on my first novel. It also applies to many other types of work, not just writing.
When embarking on an extended project, you can’t constantly zoom out and review how far you are from the finish line. That only makes it feel like an insurmountable task. You need to develop tunnel vision. Writing a whole novel might seem impossible, but writing a hundred words is doable (or a thousand, or fifty–whatever daily goal works for you).*
In other words, you break the enormous task into small, easily achieved chunks, build momentum, then repeat until completion. Each day you’ll feel better having accomplished your micro goal and won’t feel the existential dread over the impossibility of climbing a mountain in a single day.
Related to this is the somewhat clichéd principle that you need to enjoy the journey. Finishing a project is great, but the sense of accomplishment, or praise, or reward, or whatever it is that awaits at the project’s end is fleeting. A reporter once asked tennis star Chris Evert how long the thrill of winning Wimbledon lasted. She responded, “About an hour.”
Now, there’s nothing wrong with achievement, but just keep in mind that the high of reaching that goal will be fleeting. Most of your time will be spent working toward it, and what sort of life are you living if you only enjoy yourself during those ephemeral moments of accomplishment? So stop being anxious about reaching the finish line, and start enjoying the process of putting one foot in front of the other.
*If you write just 250 words/day, that’s over 90,000 words in a year. There’s the first draft of your novel!
Do you have a favorite fantasy quote? Email it to me and I may feature it in a future installment of Fantasy Quote of the Week?
