One Step at a Time

Monitoring one's story's progress can be kind of like reading
a book and glancing at the edges to see what "percentage" of the pages
are left to read--only writing takes longer than reading.

    Waiting a very long time for a good book to be completed and ready to read can be very, very, very boring--especially when it's one's own book! In that situation, a writer gets to watch each tiny step forward, but also have an idea of how much more still needs to be done.
    Writing projects can be like that quite a lot, can't they?  Especially when it's a project as long as a novel. Writing is time-consuming; writing a chapter could take over an hour, and some scenes take numerous re-writes in order for that part of the story to turn out right. With a certain time requirement for writing just one part of the story, and other activities in life to pay attention to, the writing process can end up being taking little steps day by day for a long, long time. Compared to the plotting stage of writing, where one could have the whole story down within a week, it's like a snail's pace. And thinking about how many more chapters/scenes--and days--have to go by before one finally has their beautiful manuscript completed can really stink.
    But having a positive mindset about it can make things better--a lot better. It can even make the long wait pleasant.
    When one can end their day knowing that they've got one more chapter completed, they can think about how they're one step closer to the end than they were yesterday; and that tomorrow, they'll be yet another step closer, or even two! And when thinking about the big picture, counting all the hours it'll be taking to finish the first (or second, or third) draft can give an encouraging idea of how much time and attention is being given to this story, of how much more quality there's going to be in the end.
    So while going one step at a time might be slow, thinking about the positive factors of it can make the wait more tolerable, right? What do you think?