I follow several writing podcasts and because I don’t have 2-3 hours of daily commute time the episodes typically pile up for a few weeks before I pick one with an interesting title to play in the background while I work. A few days ago I was listening to an episode from the backlog and there was one thing the interviewee said that stuck out and I have already put into practice with my own writing.
The host asked the guest about their writing process and the interviewee said that even on days they weren’t inspired to write hundreds of words they would work on something related to the story or make notes on stuff they knew needed to happen for go back and make minor fixes or edits. While it wasn’t adding hundreds (or even tens of words) to the draft it was still progress towards the end goal. And that made sense to me.
I’ve heard interviews with other authors who say they work on a few writing projects at the same time so if/when they feel stalled on one they move over to another and that keeps the progress going on something and can spark inspiration or help them work through what they are stuck on in other projects.
That’s where I’m at now. One big project and a handful of smaller writing projects. I’m slowly making progress on most of them and looking at the goal as progress not perfection helps keep everything moving along.