{"id":93,"date":"2015-02-09T17:02:04","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T22:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=93"},"modified":"2015-02-09T17:02:04","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T22:02:04","slug":"joyful-overestimation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/02\/09\/joyful-overestimation\/","title":{"rendered":"Joyful Overestimation"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m the kind of writer who joyfully overestimates his own ability every time I sit down to type. \u00a0And I’m sure I’m not the only one… \u00a0I smile, pull open my laptop, look at the pages before me and think, “finish editing the whole book\u00a0today? hell yeah!”<\/p>\n

One paragraph later: “finish the whole chapter today? \u00a0Of course!”<\/p>\n

Thirty minutes and a few sentences later: “finish the paragraph today? \u00a0OBVIOUSLY!”<\/p>\n

And then I get three sentences done.<\/p>\n

But even that doesn’t diminish the feeling I get when I start working. \u00a0I wish I could bottle up that\u00a0feeling–the one at the beginning of a writing session–and maybe sell it to Congress, who might actually get something done for a change…<\/p>\n

\"Thanks<\/a>
Thanks, nameless\u00a0photographer,\u00a0for your talent in photography. Or photoshop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyway, this all goes back to expectations; specifically the expectations we set\u00a0for ourselves (I believe I wrote a few posts on this, a while ago… cheque it out https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/tag\/inspiration\/<\/a>). \u00a0Some days writing is like hitting all the green lights, and other days it’s not at all. \u00a0Just like some days just sync up with the greater universe, who gives you the thumbs up to go do your thing and everything is groovy. \u00a0The catch is that you won’t have those great days (or those terrible days) unless you do you thing *every<\/em> day. \u00a0Does that mean that persistence is the key to awesome? \u00a0Maybe, I honestly don’t know, but it sure does work for me!<\/p>\n

When I get three sentences done, I don’t berate myself because I didn’t live up to my expectations. \u00a0That would be silly. \u00a0I might get a tad frustrated, but that goes away when I think about tomorrow, and that I’ll be able to try again because, eventually, this work will pay off. \u00a0Thus, joyful overestimation sans judgement.<\/p>\n

Cool thing<\/strong>: I’ve got the\u00a0first chapter of AVENGARDE absolutely where I want it, and I’m going to post it up here on Friday for all y’all to comment all over. \u00a0Woo. \u00a0End, cool thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/p>\n

\u2013<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. \u00a9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m the kind of writer who joyfully overestimates his own ability every time I sit down to type. \u00a0And I’m sure I’m not the only one… \u00a0I smile, pull open my laptop, look at the pages before me and think, “finish editing the whole book\u00a0today? hell yeah!” One paragraph later: “finish the whole chapter today? \u00a0Of course!” Thirty minutes and a few sentences later: “finish the paragraph today? \u00a0OBVIOUSLY!” And then I get three sentences done. But even that doesn’t diminish the feeling I get when I start working. \u00a0I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[21,27,29,50,52],"tags":[61,65,69,94,112,113,118,132,141,148,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":181,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/04\/22\/writing-and-exercise-similar\/","url_meta":{"origin":93,"position":0},"title":"Writing and Exercise: Similar?","date":"April 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In order to avoid betraying my utter ignorance, I'll speak in vague generalities: if you're walking or running efficiently, your body works a bit like a pendulum, swinging (not forcing) itself forward. I feel that I could run or walk for hours and never get tired when I'm running or\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Daily Word Count\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":607,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/03\/07\/processing-processes\/","url_meta":{"origin":93,"position":1},"title":"Processing Processes","date":"March 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"According to me, there are at least 100,000 known writing strategies. \u00a0Maybe even more (and that's why we shouldn't destroy the rain forest). \u00a0Working at a college writing center has really opened up my eyes to all sorts of writing processes that professors recommend, and even though most of them\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Inner Critic\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":184,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/05\/05\/how-much-description-is-too-much\/","url_meta":{"origin":93,"position":2},"title":"How Much Description is Too Much?","date":"May 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever read a book with long passages of description? At first, you may engage, similar to how I used to vow to use my planner at the beginning of every semester. And then interest falters. Some descriptive paragraphs feel like a mud slog. I admit that even I\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}