William, the 20,000 words I speak of are the words that fail to get put down on paper on typed into the blank page because I find the distractions of today’s social world easily deter my focus from writing. And, that focus is what allowed me to deliver my two published works.
My first work was a short non-fiction biography about my Grandfather’s first thirty years, and I followed that up with full-length historical fiction novel about a small town family during World War II. The writing for the novel came easily for a couple of reasons. First, I knew the story I wanted to tell about the family from my hometown’s perspective and at the time I was able to work at my full-time day job from my home office instead of commuting. I did not realize until I started the second book in the series how much it had meant to have the time in the morning before work and the time in the evening after work to be able to write instead of fighting traffic.
So, now when I sit down at the computer or the pad, I find that the writing comes haltingly for the novel mainly because I have lost the story I wanted to tell, but the writing itself has been better since I have adopted a more disciplined approach.
Thank you again for the great article and I look forward to reading more of your articles on writing and life.