Plodders Finish Books

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

Author, Rachel Anne Ridge writes a blog, “Home Sanctuary.” Often times, I read her posts and laugh out loud. Friday, March 22, 2019, her blog post was titled, “In Praise of All Who Keep Plodding.”

She states in the post, “Plodders can feel like they've missed out. They feel frustrated by lack of apparent success. They can be overlooked by others who seem to grab the spotlight.”

Rachel Anne is on to something. We plodders are the ones who get things done without much fanfare or fuss. We are fine to let others take the spotlight, all while working in the background. We are the worker bees. 

Dictionary.com defines plodding as, “to proceed in a tediously slow manner.” I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be a writing plodder than a one book author, “flash in the pan.” I’d rather be an author who finishes the manuscript and has a binder full of ideas for the next book and never stops writing.

Plodding involves a dedication to a steady workflow each and everyday. Just like the worker bees in a hive. Author, Steve Pavlina’s book, Personal Development for Smart People was published by Hay House in 2008. Pavlina wrote a blog post on October 29, 2012 titled, “Plodding and Bursting.” He wrote, “a nice example of plodding is Jiro from the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi. He followed essentially the same work routine every day for decades and became one of the best sushi chefs in the world as a result. A plodding writer would focus on writing every day, in essentially the same place, at the same time, and in the same manner. This approach could be used to create articles as well as larger works. An example of such a writer is Danielle Steele, who’s written more than 100 books. She’s said in interviews that she has a very disciplined work schedule, basically following the same work routine day after day to complete book after book.” 

Do you know the acronym BICHOK? It means “Backside In Chair, Hands On Keyboard.” Plodders know it is the key to finishing your book. Success. The only way to improve your writing is to finish your book. Once you type “The End.” The next day a plodder will be found “BICHOK.”

How about you? Are you a worker bee plodder?