All this. Plus you’re often seeing other writers post word counts when they’re on a sprint, and are all “I wrote 9k today” (and that’s awesome when you can do it!), but then you get the idea in your head that that’s how professionals normally do it.
And some do! Some writers can write, like 8-10k a day and knock out a full novel draft in two weeks flat! That’s the process that works for them. Don’t mistake that for THE PROCESS.
Or look at those kinds of numbers and then kick yourself that you must be failing because you aren’t cranking out words at that same rate.
For me planning out that I have to pace myself and maintaining the pace is a crucial part of *my* process. Yours may be different. But you need to judge and plan based on what you can reasonably do.
I’ve seen several writers- pros and aspiring— make the mistake of thinking they can write a whole novel in a short period of time despite that not matching their previous experience writing, because they’ve conditioned themselves to think they ought to be able to.
To summarize: the most important thing you can learn as a writer is your own process and pacing, and how to maintain that without wrecking yourself long term, physically or emotionally.
