In a perfect world, we as writers would start new projects full of excitement, cruise through the writing process enjoying every second, and finish our first draft full of fire to begin the rewriting.

But the world’s not perfect, and that’s almost never what the writing process looks like. In reality, we spend a fair amount of time feeling discouraged, overwhelmed, and unmotivated to get our writing done, even when the project is one that we care a lot about.

Something I’ve had a lot of people ask me, both writers and non-writers, is how do I keep up my excitement for a project when I’m deep in the trenches? Where do you find the enthusiasm to show up at your desk day in and day out?

I’m going to offer a piece of advice that might be a little controversial, and it’s this: lower your standards. Stop expecting to show up every day thrilled to bits with your project, your progress, and the process.

A great piece of advice another runner gave me was the rule of thirds. One third of your runs will be absolutely glorious, leaving you feeling amazing and rejuvenated. One third of your runs will just be okay – nothing special, nothing horrible; you show up and get the work done and you leave. And one third of your runs will legitimately suck.

I think the rule of thirds applies to writing, too. One third of your writing sessions are going to leave you more excited, more motivated, and more confident about your project and yourself. Those are the sessions when the words flow seemingly by themselves, and you could write for hours.

One third of your writing sessions are just going to be normal. You show up. You write. You leave. It doesn’t feel super hard, but it doesn’t feel anything like that first category. You might wonder if you’re any good at this and if you even enjoy it, but you might just shrug and not care one way or another.

One third of your writing sessions might make you want to quit writing. You might end up wanting to delete a lot of work (don’t do that; never do that). It feels like every word has to be pulled out of you, and then when you do that, it’s not even that good.

These odds might not feel that great. Why even bother if two thirds of your writing sessions don’t bring you joy? Here’s the thing. Difficulty does not have to equal despair. The hard writing days, when words refuse to come, don’t have to leave you feeling like garbage. It’s not a true reflection of your skill or your project’s worth. It’s just a hard day. That’s it.

Begin to reframe your internal conversation around tough days and see them as the necessary friction that they are. Much like in running, tough sessions will teach and grow you, and you learn to “enjoy the burn” for the results it will eventually produce. With that in mind, you and I don’t have to dread showing up to our work on days when the words don’t flow. And when the dread goes away, contentment can take its place, and you will start showing up with an enthusiastic attitude.

Happy writing xx