Stop Counting Words. Start Shaping Your Story — and a Bonus for Paid Subscribers

Momentum—not more—is what moves your writing forward. Let’s bust the myth that’s holding you back.

Photo by Julia Caesar on Unsplash

Hello and welcome everyone!

I’m honored to have you here. Many of you have found me through my writing guide, Writing That Gets Noticed (New World Library), or from my other articles and essays. Others are here because of my award-winning podcast, Freelance Writing Direct (with over 141 episodes with authors, magazine editors, publishing pros, agents and freelance writers), and others because of my YouTube channel, or recommendations from other Substack newsletters. Wherever you came from, I’m so happy to have you here and I’m grateful for your support.

If you’ve seen my recent TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond, or attended my latest Writer’s Digest webinar, you know I’m passionate about what it really takes to keep momentum going in your writing life.

Let’s start here…the myth of daily word count

If you’re anything like the writers I teach and coach, you’ve probably wrestled with the ever-present advice: “Just hit your daily word count!” Whether that magic number is 500, 1,000, or 2,000 words a day, it can feel like an invisible stopwatch is forever tick, tick, ticking at your desk.

I get it. Writing is hard. Writing consistently is even harder. A word count goal can offer structure, discipline, and a clear sense of progress. But here’s what I’ve also seen (and experienced): when the numbers start to matter more than the writing itself, creativity shrinks. Anxiety blossoms. You end up staring at the cursor, feeling blocked before you even begin. I’ve lived it and so have my students.

So how can you beat the anxiety and the “I’m-not-good-enough” devil in your mind?

Stop letting your obsession with daily word counts crush your creativity—and your confidence.

Where word count helps (and where it doesn’t)

There are absolutely times when tracking words works beautifully:

• You know your storyline or essay structure and are simply building scene by scene.

• You’re freewriting to explore, experiment, and discover voice or theme.

But trouble starts when word count becomes the only goal. I’ve met writers who force themselves toward a specific manuscript length with zero clarity on character arcs, emotional beats, or narrative drive: It rarely ends well.

I often remind my students that writing is like building a house using specific architectural techniques. You wouldn’t obsess over the number of bricks laid if you didn’t know what the finished design was supposed to be. You’d stop, sketch the blueprint, pick the materials, and adjust as you go.

What to focus on instead

Here are three types of goals I recommend over (or alongside) strict word counts—the ones I use myself and with my students and coaching clients.

Clarity is Key

When I’m working on a personal essay or on my memoir in progress, I don’t tell myself, “Write 1,000 words.” I say:

• “Today I’m going to nail the opening hook.”

• “I’ll revise the scene that’s not yet earning its emotional payoff.”

This keeps the focus on what I’m building, not how many bricks I’m stacking.

Estelle’s Edge: Incremental steps lead to big results — and continued momentum.

For Example:

• Draft the moment of betrayal in your memoir.

• Strengthen the dialogue in that clunky second chapter.

• Rewrite the closing paragraph for more resonance.

I always say: clarity before quantity.

Make space for the solution

Some of my most productive writing days don’t involve drafting at all. They involve thinking, walking, brainstorming, outlining, or even rearranging sticky notes on my office wall.

Also, there is more than one way to get your creative energies flowing.

As I explain in my book Writing That Gets Noticed:

“Can’t seem to get started? Change the format. Turn your essay into a poem or a letter. Or try a different font. I change my font from Times New Roman to Garamond or Comic Sans when I’m stuck. I also try writing in the form of a poem or letter to inspire my creativity. Changing the mode or format of your writing breaks up established patterns of thinking and encourages your brain to make new connections.” — Estelle Erasmus

Here are some non-writing steps you can take:

• Chart the emotional arc of a character who feels “flat” by checking it against how you (or your most dramatic friend) would react if pushed to the same provocations.

• Rework the pacing of Act 2 in your mind if the middle feels sluggish. Tell it to yourself in a tape recorder or the voice memo in your phone,

• Talk to a friend to test if your memoir’s hook grabs attention.

Don’t underestimate the creative breakthroughs that happen off the page. My best ones often show up on my morning walk, when I’m out in nature, or while I’m in the shower (you, too?)

Estelle’s Edge: When you’re stuck, zoom out. The solution is usually structural, not sentence-level. If a scene keeps falling flat, the problem might be where it lands, not how it’s written. Ask: What’s missing around it? What emotional beat didn’t get earned? For example, if your breakup scene feels rushed, it may be because the conflict that leads up to it isn’t fully built.

Play with Voice

When I’m stuck, I play. I’ll write the same scene three different ways to test out tone or POV. I’ll experiment with quirky narrative angles or look at the style of writing from authors I admire and play with mimicking them (hey, that’s what Stephen King says he used to do earlier in his career). It’s just another way of stretching those creative writing muscles.

Examples:

• Write the scene from your protagonist’s pet’s perspective.

• Shift your memoir reflection into second person for distance.

• Draft a page as if Nora Ephron or Jesmyn Ward were writing it.

This exercise unlocks voice and injects fun back into the process.

Estelle’s Edge: Voice gets clearer when you stop trying to impress and start trying to connect. If your writing feels stiff or overly performative, it may be because you’re writing for approval instead of resonance. Try writing a paragraph just for one person who “gets you”—a friend, your younger self, or the reader who needs this story most.

Here’s the Point: Progress is personal

At the end of the day, word count is just one tool. It works for some projects; it can crush creativity in others. I’d much rather see you set intentional, specific goals that keep you connected to your work and your excitement.

So here’s my questions to you:

Does chasing a word count fire you up or wear you down?
How do you define “success” in your writing time?
What helps you keep moving forward when the blank page feels intimidating?

Tell me in the comments—I’d love to hear how you approach this balancing act.

And as always, thanks for reading and being part of this writing community.

✅ Bonus for Paid Subscribers: The Throughline Challenge + Feedback from Me

If you’ve worked with me, taken one of my classes, or read my book Writing That Gets Noticed, you know how enamored I am with throughlines. I even dedicated my recent Writer’s Digest webinar to helping writers identify the throughline that ties their entire piece together—whether it’s a memoir, essay, novel, or even a speech (like with my TEDx Talk).

A throughline is the unifying idea, emotional question, or driving force that shapes your story and gives it resonance. It's not always obvious at first. But when you find it, everything else—voice, structure, pacing—starts to align.

This month, I’m offering a special bonus for paid subscribers:
The Throughline Challenge.

Your assignment:
Draft a single sentence that captures your project’s throughline. Think of it as the thread that runs through the entire piece, tying it all together. It can be framed as a question, a journey, or a statement of what the work ultimately explores.

Ask yourself:

• What is my project really about underneath the plot or anecdotes?

• What emotional question am I asking that carries the reader to the end?

• What transformation am I trying to illuminate?

Examples:
✅ Memoir: “What does it take to heal from a childhood spent chasing spiritual gurus, and finally find grounded faith at home?”
✅ Novel: “A woman must solve a magical mystery from her past before she can reclaim her power in the present.”
✅ Personal Essay: “What does it mean to be truly seen, in a world that keeps overlooking you?”

If you’re a paid subscriber, here’s the bonus part:
Send me your throughline sentence and one paragraph about your project between June 1–30, and I’ll personally review it and send back tailored notes to help you strengthen or clarify it. Just reply to this post or email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com.

Note: This time, the Throughline Challenge is open to all paid subscribers—both monthly and yearly. But in future challenges that include personalized feedback, I may reserve that benefit exclusively for yearly subscribers as a way to prioritize those committed to long-term growth.
If you’re considering upgrading, now’s a great time.

I may also select a few standout submissions (with your permission) to feature in a future Substack post to inspire our larger writing community.

I can’t wait to see what you come up with.