Walloped by Spring Break

For the first three days of April, I met my goals. I think. Then the weekend came... then spring break. And all this time that I foolishly envisioned I could structure for my writing goals was eaten up by mostly fun and exciting things (shopping for/trying to sell a horse) that meant we spent a lot of time in the car/truck/barn. And lots of state highways.

I fell off all wagons. Writing wagon. Exercise wagon. Eating right wagon. Even the laundry wagon.

But this wasn't a failure unless I stop here. A detour, possibly. Maybe even a trip into the ditch on the side of the road. But not a failure.

Come Monday, spring break is over. Then you'll find my behind in the chair. (Or my feet on the treadmill, working at my desk there.) And I'm going to keep showing up every day until I actually have changed my habits. Which means I'll keep showing up every day from then on.

Hallelujah amen.

Was I Supposed to Write a Novel This Month?

The hall monitor caught me goofing off in the teacher's lounge. Actually, it was at the vet's office where I had to take my diabetic cat because, to use the medical terminology, he is "out of whack." Blood sugar too high. If only my word count were as high as my cat's blood sugar.

Was I supposed to write a novel this month? Uh oh. I seem to have fallen off the wagon and landed in a puddle.

Lots of personal stuff this month, but isn't that true of everyone? Writing should have been an escape from that, but somehow that didn't happen. Instead, the farther I fell behind in my goals, the more desperate I became. The more I pressured myself, the less I could do. I've got five chapters written and I've stalled.

The good news is that while writing my chapters, I laughed. (And I also burned a couple thousand calories on the treadmill.)

I earned some gold stars but there are too many voids. The interesting thing is that pattern of gold stars. It tells me how I work -- and how I don't work. When I get gold stars, I get them every day. When I don't get them, a whole week can pass by. That means I either work every day -- or I don't work at all. That kind of self-truth is pretty ugly but what it says is don't lose momentum. Keep going!

I need to forgive myself for failing to meet my own expectations, let it go, and get back to writing. This little check-in is a good thing (thanks, Marianne), because it allows me to adjust my goals.

What's done (or undone) is undone. But there is tomorrow to do more and to bring fresh hope to my book. So, my goal for the rest of the month (actually, I'll have to stop January 30) is to write 18,000 words.

Did I just write that? Can I erase it? Too many zeroes in that number.

Here I go again -- starting to back down. But, oh yes I can do it. I grant myself a fresh start. And a fresh big fat number. All I have to do is Write Every Day.

Anne AKA smellshorsey, who appears to have give up but has not.

Write or Die

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lab.drwicked.com

I earned my gold stars with two visits to Dr. Wicked, one while on the treadmill, where I'm writing this though I think I'm about to make myself seasick because I sway from side to side when I walk (I'm not going to call it a waddle but that word comes to mind). Can't say much for the quality of anything but I wrote nearly 2,000 words today -- the first day I've almost achieved my word count goal this month. Kind of sad but overall I'm glad. Will keep going.

If you haven't tried "Write or Die," you might like it. You put in your word goal and your time goal then press "write." Anytime you pause the screen starts turning pink, then will get red, then will play obnoxious noises. Today's noise was a crying baby. You can also set it to kamikaze where it erases your words one by when while you pause, but I'm not that stupid. I've found it's a really good tool when I need to be forced to write.

Now, if only I could figure out how to get off this treadmill..... Burned 156 calories. There. It's off. That felt good and will continue to feel good unless I make the mistake of reading my work.

Looking forward to reading about everyone's success and strategies.

Would anyone like to do a Vanessa Grant Writing Romance book work group after JaNo? I like hanging out with y'all and would like to continue after January.

Anne AKA smellshorsey

Walking Not Running - Day Two

After much procrastination, I finally got cranked up and wrote what I'm guessing is Chapter 2 (with holes and much babbling). It's a little too edgy for my intended market but maybe that was lack of oxygen on my part. I wrote 1,562 words while walking 2.4 miles on the treadmill. I hoped to write more but looking at the screen and walking made me slightly seasick. This is a new thing for me. There's really no reason to look at the screen. I'll have to train myself to watch the scene in my head instead. Not sure how accurate this is, but I burned 265 calories, too.

And I got a gold star on my honesty calendars. I'm like a six-year-old. I'll do anything for a gold star. I have calendar for the treadmill, and one for writing. I intend to have a whole page of gold stars this month.

(Notice I don't have a quality calendar -- not measuring that this month.)

I hope the rest of you are hitting your goals and most of all, having fun.

Anne AKA smellshorsey