Tomorrow I will be coming up on 20 weeks worth of 2,500 word per day...days :). I've done a lot during this time and I'm very pleased with all of the effort I've put in so far. I need to start doubling my efforts on promotion as well and perhaps I can figure out a decent challenge as far as that's concerned as well. Maybe some monthly sales goals or something like that, but it's much easier to hit a word count than it is to meet a sales goal. I know that the happiness book will sell if I can get the word out (especially before May and then next Christmas) and some of the new journals and workbooks I have come up with will sell as well, I just need to put some time and energy into them. We shall see :).
In the meantime, I will continue to bust out some writing every single day and see where I end up. I'm also working my way through a diet at the same time and so far I've lost a little over four pounds in total in just three weeks. It's no giant blast of weight loss which I've been used to in the past from my crash diets, but I think that's probably not as healthy as what I'm doing now. The tough part about today is going out for a run in 3 to 5 inches of snow. My Saturday run is usually what helps me get a little bit lower in weight for my Sunday weigh in. I'll run regardless, I just might not be able to do it very fast as I move through the snow as efficiently as a puppy who's never seen the white, icy substance before. I may have to stop and do a snow angel halfway through :).
I continued my work on Identity Interrupted today and I wrote a blog post on how to increase self-esteem in 5 simple steps. After a long week of barely seeing my girlfriend due to her working the late shift, it'll be nice to hangout and see each other for two straight days. Hooray for 20 weeks of writing! Hooray for 4 weeks of dieting! Hooray for 7 years of a relationship :).
Showing posts with label writing challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing challenge. Show all posts
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Friday, November 11, 2011
Day 68: Patience
One of the most important traits to learn during a major writing (or any creative) challenge is patience. There are so many activities that you are used to doing during the day that you may have to put off or cancel when your challenge becomes a major priority. Before the 365 challenge, I spent at least two hours a day learning everything I could possibly find out about the world of movies and television. I was obsessed. When I began the challenge, I knew I would have to cut that amount of time in half or make it non-existent on certain days when my creativity taps seemed to be running dry.
I also had to be patient when it came to enjoying late night activities. My girlfriend and I would occasionally stay up past midnight hanging out, playing games or watching television. Since I know that my best work tends to come between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and that I need at least 7 hours of sleep to be awake enough to produce it, I have to put off some of those fun activities to another day. It's become so easy to have fun and to be entertained in life, that you can't help want to put off work when you don't have to do it.
When it comes down to it, a writing challenge isn't even mostly about writing. It's about patience, perseverance, hard work, willpower and the understanding of the people around you. If you want to be a writer but you're worried about your skill level, there's no issue. The hardest working writers with the most patience tend to be some of the most successful. The fact that you will get the opportunity to do something you enjoy with your life will help you to push even further.
Today, when I first started working on Ted Saves the World, no words came, but I was patient that I could get my brain revved up and ready to work. Low and behold, two hours later, I was done my 2,000 words. In addition, I worked on a blog post today of poetry writing prompts.
I also had to be patient when it came to enjoying late night activities. My girlfriend and I would occasionally stay up past midnight hanging out, playing games or watching television. Since I know that my best work tends to come between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and that I need at least 7 hours of sleep to be awake enough to produce it, I have to put off some of those fun activities to another day. It's become so easy to have fun and to be entertained in life, that you can't help want to put off work when you don't have to do it.
When it comes down to it, a writing challenge isn't even mostly about writing. It's about patience, perseverance, hard work, willpower and the understanding of the people around you. If you want to be a writer but you're worried about your skill level, there's no issue. The hardest working writers with the most patience tend to be some of the most successful. The fact that you will get the opportunity to do something you enjoy with your life will help you to push even further.
Today, when I first started working on Ted Saves the World, no words came, but I was patient that I could get my brain revved up and ready to work. Low and behold, two hours later, I was done my 2,000 words. In addition, I worked on a blog post today of poetry writing prompts.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Day 66: Happiness
How has this writing challenge contributed to my overall level of happiness?
This is an important question to ask for several reasons. First of all, as someone who has written a book about happiness, I should make sure that what I'm doing at any given time is contributing positively to my levels of joy. Secondly, since the first book I wrote on the challenge was that happiness book, how well it represents the subject is worth looking at to see if I'm keeping my quality up as well as my quantity. Thirdly, I think that other people on writing challenges such as NaNoWriMo should know if they can maintain their general happiness while working on something as difficult as a novel.
I'm proud to say that this challenge has contributed very well to my happiness during the last two months. While it has caused some issues socially and there have been days in which I've felt like collapsing on the couch for a few days, overall, I am feeling happier compared to a few months ago. I knew at that time that I needed something to keep me focused and to keep me excited about writing. Even though I know that writing is a major part of my life purpose, I still needed to set a goal for myself that would be challenging and this idea of writing 2,500 words a day for 365 days straight has fit the bill.
Today, I continued to work on the young-adultish fantasy novel, and I'm very glad to be giving it a second go in a full-length version. I'm able to flesh out some characters more and I've had a great time seeing how they get from point A to point B in a much more complex tale. I also wrote a blog post today focusing on quotes about happiness, which provides some context to several amazing quotes on the subject of joy.
This is an important question to ask for several reasons. First of all, as someone who has written a book about happiness, I should make sure that what I'm doing at any given time is contributing positively to my levels of joy. Secondly, since the first book I wrote on the challenge was that happiness book, how well it represents the subject is worth looking at to see if I'm keeping my quality up as well as my quantity. Thirdly, I think that other people on writing challenges such as NaNoWriMo should know if they can maintain their general happiness while working on something as difficult as a novel.
I'm proud to say that this challenge has contributed very well to my happiness during the last two months. While it has caused some issues socially and there have been days in which I've felt like collapsing on the couch for a few days, overall, I am feeling happier compared to a few months ago. I knew at that time that I needed something to keep me focused and to keep me excited about writing. Even though I know that writing is a major part of my life purpose, I still needed to set a goal for myself that would be challenging and this idea of writing 2,500 words a day for 365 days straight has fit the bill.
Today, I continued to work on the young-adultish fantasy novel, and I'm very glad to be giving it a second go in a full-length version. I'm able to flesh out some characters more and I've had a great time seeing how they get from point A to point B in a much more complex tale. I also wrote a blog post today focusing on quotes about happiness, which provides some context to several amazing quotes on the subject of joy.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Day 60: Writing Challenge
After approximately two months, I think it's time I took some extra time to reflect on my writing challenge. I am just four writing prompts away from finishing my second book of the self-generated competition, which will have been my longest book of all time at around 70,000 words. I'm extremely proud of myself and I think that I've grown since I began 60 days ago.
Starting a writing challenge like has caused me to think outside the box about what was directly affecting my writing productivity. I knew that I needed some extra oomph, which caused me to purchased the Fit Desk X bike. Since I bought it, I've used it over an hour each morning to get the oxygen necessary to my brain to complete my daily task. In addition, I know now for a fact that having an office for my very own with a door I can close has been extremely helpful. The days in which I finish my writing before noon have tripled in our new apartment because of the office and the added space.
I was a little worried about splitting my writing between the three sources: my books, my writing blog and this blog, but I've learned it was a great decision. Not only is my web traffic up, but my book sales and advertising clickthroughs have gone up as well. This helps me a great deal in the challenge because I can immediately see my results having an effect. If I was writing the books alone, it would be a bit tougher, since you can't make money off a book until it's edited, designed and published. Even though the books are likely to bring more "pudding" in the long-term, having that short term reminder that, "Hey, your writing pays!" is a welcome reminder.
Now that I've finished The Post-College Guide to Happiness and have come quite close to completing 1,000 Character Writing Prompts, Part 1, I have proven to myself that the longer I go with this writing challenge, the more books I will write. If I can keep up the same pace, I'll end up 12 books completed by the end of the challenge with another book on the way. In addition, I'll have over 450 blog posts completed (since I'm posting parts of the books along the way), which should help me to reach my website traffic goals.
In other words, life is good, and I'm glad I've embarked on such a journey! Continue to follow along to see if I can make it to the end :).
In today's writing, I wrote a blog post of short story topics and post a page of character writing prompts on landlords.
Starting a writing challenge like has caused me to think outside the box about what was directly affecting my writing productivity. I knew that I needed some extra oomph, which caused me to purchased the Fit Desk X bike. Since I bought it, I've used it over an hour each morning to get the oxygen necessary to my brain to complete my daily task. In addition, I know now for a fact that having an office for my very own with a door I can close has been extremely helpful. The days in which I finish my writing before noon have tripled in our new apartment because of the office and the added space.
I was a little worried about splitting my writing between the three sources: my books, my writing blog and this blog, but I've learned it was a great decision. Not only is my web traffic up, but my book sales and advertising clickthroughs have gone up as well. This helps me a great deal in the challenge because I can immediately see my results having an effect. If I was writing the books alone, it would be a bit tougher, since you can't make money off a book until it's edited, designed and published. Even though the books are likely to bring more "pudding" in the long-term, having that short term reminder that, "Hey, your writing pays!" is a welcome reminder.
Now that I've finished The Post-College Guide to Happiness and have come quite close to completing 1,000 Character Writing Prompts, Part 1, I have proven to myself that the longer I go with this writing challenge, the more books I will write. If I can keep up the same pace, I'll end up 12 books completed by the end of the challenge with another book on the way. In addition, I'll have over 450 blog posts completed (since I'm posting parts of the books along the way), which should help me to reach my website traffic goals.
In other words, life is good, and I'm glad I've embarked on such a journey! Continue to follow along to see if I can make it to the end :).
In today's writing, I wrote a blog post of short story topics and post a page of character writing prompts on landlords.
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