Don't kill yourself

So you’ve gotten into your writing groove. You have your daily writing goal. You’re making progress on the novel. Here’s a new concept:  don’t overdo it. I know this sounds counter-intuitive but in one day don’t go too far over your goal. Most days for me it is a struggle to get three pages. Some days I write a little more. But I think it is important not to write until you are bleary eyed and your back is killing you from sitting at the computer. Make of note of your progress in your daily novel notebook, make notes of what to do tomorrow and walk away from it. Give your brain a chance to recover. Save some writing energy for the next day. You might find you’ll be fresher and more ready to start the next day, if you don’t think you have to kill yourself at one sitting. Steady she goes. Just do your three pages or 1,000 words or whatever. The book will get finished that way. The turtle was the one who finished the race first.