You Bleeeeeeeewwww It!

Monday, I was at a sort of crossroads. I had just finished a story the day before, and I hadn't managed to get any prep work done for what I was going to start writing next. I've been meaning to get started on "The Gauntlet", but I've got to do some of the outlining done before I start. I hadn't done that. But I still needed to write 1,000 words. That's my goal every day. It's usually easy, except when I'm switching from the end of one story to the start of another, like I was Monday.

I desperately cast about for something I could write. I talked with Rish about it on the phone, but hadn't made any decision by the time we were done. I thought I might do one more Christmas story for my upcoming collection, so I pulled up a list of prompts that I found on a website. One of the prompts seemed promising, so I spent some time thinking about it, and finally, at about 10:00 PM, I had it. I knew what I would write. Now I just had to do it.

It was pretty late already, though. I managed to get one paragraph written before I left work for home. I was committed to doing a live reading of a story with Marshal Latham, Renee Chambliss, and Rish for the Journey Into... Podcast when I got home though, so I was going to have to write after that, when I was finally finished.

We read through the story, and finished up at about 1:15 AM, and that's when I blew it. I guess getting wrapped up in acting my character on Marshal's story took my mind off writing or something, because I completely forgot that I needed to finish writing for the day. Instead, I messed around on the Facebook for a few minutes, then went to bed.

It wasn't until I was taking a shower the next morning that my mind wandered to my story idea, and I realized that I had forgot to get my 1,000 words. I was so upset. I've written 1,000 words a day every day since January 20th. That's 77 days in a row of 1,000 words. But that streak has ended.

I did still write a little, but I didn't hit my mark. I only did 132 words. Pretty lame, but I guess better than nothing. My writing streak continues, just not my 1,000 word writing streak. I may have blown it.



But I'm not that upset. The purpose of all of this is that I get in the habit of writing. That I make it my business. That I make it my raison d'être. And I feel that I have accomplished that. Tuesday, I got right back to it. I wrote on that new story idea, and even did a little extra to make up for my shortfall the day before. Tuesday I hit 1,682. I'll see if I can't get another big day today as well. Soon, my word count won't even show that I blew it.