Challenge

I’ve been thinking about my writing. “What writing?” you ask.

“Exactly” is my response.

I keep telling myself that I really want to write. But I don’t. My blog-friend, DixieGirl, aspires to write as well. She inspires me too. Each November, she joins “National Novel Writing Month” or NaNoWriMo. There’s a website and lots of information, encouragement, etc. When you sign up, you are agreeing (with yourself, essentially) that you will write a certain number of words toward your novel. There are few actual requirements – the real requirement being the determination and tenaciousness to write – to write every day, to make it your habit.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

I’ve read somewhere that doing something for seven days tells your brain it is a habit. Of course, this was given in the context of “Make your bed for seven days…” or “Do the dishes…” or “Exercise for seven days….” I’m thinking WRITE. Write every day for seven days - a month.

Do I have a novel in me? I used to think so. Then we lost Anna, and I closed off a chunk of mySelf – maybe my novel was in that chunk. Do I have the ability to write? Probably. Do I have the determination to write daily for a month? Doubtful. I fizzle out at exercise after a week or so. A project needs to be completed in a short time or risk being consigned to the “finish sometime later” stack. As a confessed child of the “instant gratification” generation, I freely admit that long-term goals have never been my strong suit.

So. What does that mean today? Where am I going with this? What’s the point? Well. I think I am going to try and commit to writing every day for the rest of the month of August. Today’s the seventh - what will I write for the next 24 days? Movie or book reviews? Memoirs? Rants? Current events? A short story? Chapter One of the Great American Novel? Chapter Two? The great and prolific Stephen King has achieved his status by writing – every day. He has long considered it his job to sit at his desk and write. He works at it. I think somewhere in my head, I see “a writer” who spends two or three days a week writing for a few hours a day – the rest of the time is spent lounging by the pool, taking long walks working out the finer points of intricately plotted stories. Or J.K.Rowling sitting in a pub scribbling away her wonderful world of Potter. F.Scott Fitzgerald. Maya Angelou. Ernest Hemingway. Or Janet Evanovich who writes the Stephanie Plum books – they’re not “serious” literature, but they’re fabulous fun and endlessly enjoyable to read. And I've read that everyone has at least one book in them.

Perhaps we'll just see about that... (daily topics, suggestions, critiques WELCOME!!)