Happy Friday!

When I started my very first novel, sitting there at a cafe on the corner or Alcatraz Ave. and Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley, I had no idea what I was getting into. Only that I was committed to writing a novel.

After what felt like hours of writing, I peered up at the blue sky and the cars whizzing by, and at my hand-written words in my notebook.

Only 20 minutes had passed and I'd only written a handful of paragraphs.

Writing was SO hard and taking for-ev-er.

So be it.

Clearly, writing fiction was harder than I ever thought and was going to take a lot longer than I'd thought.

I sat back in my chair, firmed my resolve and my grip, and got back to writing my very first scene in my very first novel.

However long it took, I'd be there.

Whatever the outcome, I'd stick with it, with turning my dream into a reality -- one word at a time. One day at a time. One year at a time.

Fast forward 25 years later, with 16 novels and 5 nonfiction books under my belt, and working on the 17th novel, I am still focused on the one word at a time, one day at a time.

In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott talks about using the one-inch frame mentality.

This is how I remember it... Try this on for size.

Imagine on your desk is a 1-inch by 1-inch picture frame.

And inside that frame is a piece of your story.

Your job today is to write what happens in the moment of your story, whatever you can see in that frame.

This exercise keeps me focused on the now and on what I can do, today, and in the next 20-minute timed writing session -- which I use all the time to get moving and stay focused.

Amazing things happen after writing many 20-minute blocks. Or editing in that time frame. Or marketing.

Small steps lead to big results. Small is big.

Try it and let me know how it goes. Hit reply to let me know!

❤️