They say a watched pot never boils. They are right. In a hurry to cook spaghetti noodles, I’ve watched plenty of them and they never boil until you turn away.

For me, as a writer, that pot is whatever book I’m working on. If I sit in front of the screen and I try to force the characters to get their story writ, everything that gets put down must be deleted. It’s so bad it blows like a dry desert wind over an already parched ground.

But…

Oh, but if I just let the story and characters alone to heat up in my brain, whoa, the things that come out. I’ve not “watched a pot” for two years, but when it was ready to boil, keeper words poured out faster and with more truth and accuracy and wit and cohesiveness.

I’m saying all this for one reason: If somebody is telling you that you must write every day or at a certain time in order to be successful, tell them to go fly a kite. Let your pot boil in its own time. You’ll be happy you did.