Here’s a dirty little confession…I don’t actually enjoy writing. There I’ve said it.
Now please don’t misunderstand. I’m a writer to the core. My brain is constantly bubbling with story ideas – more stories than I could possibly type out in a month of Sundays. I love plotting and playing with fiction in my head. I certainly enjoy talking about writing, participating in writing conferences/seminars/classes, planning to write and pinning pithy quotes about the writing life over on Pinterest. And there is nothing quite so glorious as that supernaturally awesome moment when I can sit back from the keyboard knowing I have finished writing for the day. [Cue angels singing]
But the actual act of writing? Very painful. No joy there.
And yet, here’s the great paradox of my life: I’m even MORE miserable when I DON’T write! Now you might think that means I write every day…but I don’t. I just allow myself to wallow in misery and shame for days and even weeks at a time.
So, yeah. I’m always in search of new ways to inject inspiration and productivity into my writing life. Last year, I discovered the WriteChain Challenge (and App) but quickly lost interest after killing my first writing chain by accident (not because I failed to write, but because I forgot to log in my word count for one day). That said, I still love the concept. And I really, really need a healthy dose of accountability to get my hands back to the keyboard after a full month of wallowing in misery.
So June is my Writember. I’ve got my plan and I’m ready to roll! the initial goal is to write 500 words per day. If that proves too difficult, I’ll lower the goal. All that matters is that I do this for 30 days. In a row. No excuses.
(If this doesn’t work, I might have to go back to that gun-to-my-head scenario that worked so well back in January 2013.)
photo credit: Annette + Powerbook + Teh Interwebz via photopin (license)
Slay the Writer 