Oh, what about inspiration, you might ask. FUCK INSPIRATION.

Years ago, a famous-ish writer who had just snubbed me gave this airy-fairy talk on inspiration and it was the most impractical thing I had ever heard, it made writing seem mystical and out of reach to mere mortals.

As a kind of counter-argument, I took out a legal pad while she spoke, intent on using old-fashioned brainstorming to come up with the idea for my next novel, determined to have the idea before the writer finished speaking.

Within 10-15 minutes, I had an idea that became I'D KNOW YOU ANYWHERE, one of my most successful books, critically and commercially.

Inspiration is great. I'm happy to see when it shows up. But if I waited for it, nothing would ever happen.

You also can create time quotas, by the way. "Butt in chair for X hours a day" is a perfectly reasonable goal.

FWIW, I did a 1,200-word chapter today. I have no idea what's going on in my book, I'm just letting different characters take the reins and tell me their stories.

It’s 4 p.m., heading out on walk #3 to hit my daily goal, oh yeah, still putting on nice clothes every day.

It may be quite late in the day when I put them on and I may be in my pajamas ridiculously early BUT I AM STILL PUTTING ON NICE CLOTHES EVERY DAY. As long as "nice" is defined very broadly.