I just want you to know that it is physically possible to give 110%, despite logical claims to the contrary. Please see my status bar’s current position, after last-night’s crazy 2,196 words added to my weekly total:
I’m already over my weekly requirement of 3,500 words (if we’re doing weeks from Friday to Friday), so perhaps I should just start posting my output from Monday to Friday from now on.
This 500 Words A Day Challenge is going pretty well, so far! I’ve done more than the required 500 words so far, both on Friday night and this afternoon, so I’ve got a total word count of 1,647 as of this afternoon. It’s helped me finish up at least one scene in the novel I’m writing, so it’s definitely motivating me to keep at it, keep pushing ahead, and to chip away a little bit at a time.
I’m excited about this project, as I know I need to make more time for my fictional work every day, even if it’s only an hour or so. 500 words is only about a page or two of writing, so it’s not an unreachable goal, even with all the other stuff I’m working on. It’s also a nice way to mix things up from my standard work schedule, so hopefully my progress will continue in this manner!
All right. I think I should continue a bit while I’m on a roll, so I’m starting a new chapter and seeing where that goes. Now I just need to find a progress bar plugin or widget to keep you all posted on my weekly totals… I’ve added a progress bar at the top of my sidebar (above the “More Information” section) so you can check my weekly progress. If you want to add a progress bar of your own, try the ProgressFly plugin by Deborah McDonnell.
As I was going through my bookmarks folders and trying to rid them of the junk I’ve accumulated over the past year or five (I’m really bad at sorting through my bookmarks; it’s a problem), I discovered a link that led me to Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s blog. I’ve been here before, and I find her writing cartoons amusing (occasionally in that, “OMG, are we all really that neurotic?” kind of way, sometimes just cus they’re straight-up hilarious, like the one I’ve re-posted below), but today I discovered something I can definitely use. It’s called the 500 Words A Day Writing Challenge.
Writers love to procrasinate, fo’ shizzle‽ (comic by Debbie Ridpath Ohi and re-posted under the CC license)
Based on the NaNoWriMo concept of cranking out a certain number of words on your novel, per day, throughout the month of November, this writing challenge takes it once step further, asking you to write 500 words per day throughout the entire YEAR. Whoa! Since I’ve definitely been in need of a proper kick in the butt, when it comes to taking the “me-time” I need to actually work on my novel (as opposed to the millions of other things I’m working on, including blogs, articles for work, and my guidebook in progress), I thought I would add the button to my sidebar to remind myself.
And now that I’ve posted a blog about it, perhaps you, my good reader, will also hold me to it?
Just as an FYI: Debbie’s site also suggests the 1,000 Words A Day Writing Challenge, but since I’m just getting started with this, I figured I wouldn’t overwhelm myself straight out of the gate. 500 words a day is definitely doable, and if I find myself writing more and more as time goes by, this will help encourage me to stick with it. 1,000 words a day is a noble goal, but as a full-time professional writer, I don’t think I have it in me to do my day-job writing work AND 1,000 words of fiction every day. It may not sound draining to sit at a computer all day, tapping away, but it definitely can be. And besides, we all could use a break from keyboarding!
If you’re a writer and would like to play along at home, check out Debbie’s site, Inkygirl.com, for more inspiration, cartoons about the writing life, or to grab a badge for your website. And let me know how you’re doing! It’s always nice to have friends in the trenches.
P.S. For the TRULY CRAZY, there’s also a 10K Day for Writers coming up on August 13, brought to you by Milli Thornton. Can you write 10,000 words in one day? Take the challenge, face your fears, and find out!