I’d like to address something that’s come up in our #1kaday challenge.

In her blog post today, Julie Munroe Martin questions whether this particular process of writing — 1,000 words a day come hell or high water — is working for her. Although she has met every daily word count so far, she’s concerned about writing quality as well as quality of life — sleepless nights, the competition, the pressure, etc., which are all legitimate concerns.

It’s important to remember that everyone has his or her own writing process. Last summer, I discovered that writing 1,000 words a day was mine. Trust me, before I reached that conclusion, I had tried two pages a day, 500 words a day, an hour a day, just writing when I felt like it. None of it worked the way 1,000 words did. It was my magic number.

Maybe for you it’s devoting one day a week to writing or writing for an hour every morning. Please, please don’t feel discouraged if you want to drop out of the #1kaday thing. As long as you’re writing and you’re happy with what you’re writing, that’s all that counts. Not a daily word count.