Making Progress

Back in February I set myself a goal to write for an hour every day Monday through Saturday.  So how have I done?  Not the greatest.  Oh, I have a lot of great excuses: 

• Daylight savings time began, and it's dark in the early morning again! 
• My Dad had surgery and my Mom came to stay for a few days
• I had to write my pieces for Rachel's Campaign challenge (they were both background for my current WIP, so that does count doesn't it?)
• I need to finish organizing my files of medical bills so we can file our income taxes
• Spring has come, and I've been planting my cool weather veggies
• I'm trying to read as many of the Whitney Awards Finalists as I can

These are just a few that I have come up with . . . I'm sure that I could think of more, but the point is, I need to develop this writing habit!

Here's what I have accomplished since February 11th:

• I have worked on my WIP on 13 different mornings (not quite an hour each time, but more than an hour on some days)
• I have added 11,158 words to my WIP  (definitely not NANOWRIMO worthy efforts, I know)
• I wrote two flash fiction pieces for Rachel's Campaign here and here.

So, it's time to regroup, recommit, and resolve to do better!  April will be the month that I keep my resolve to write for an hour every day Monday through Saturday.   Early mornings will be for writing.  Late afternoons and evenings will be for gardening or blogging or sewing or reading.  I will start right now, and report back again in May, so check back to see if I can make this 30 day habit stick!

They Say Thirty Days Makes a Habit

Thirty days make a habit, or so they say. I am about to find out.

For the past year I've been struggling with setting aside and using time to write on a daily basis. In years past I have had the luxury of several hours each morning after my children were all in school and before I needed to be to work. This past fall began working extra hours at my part-time job. Our family work/school schedule was also up in the air with constant changes and uncertainties. When I first learned about Nanowrimo from my daughter in 2007, I loved the fact that it encouraged me to make time to actually write on a daily basis. I even "won" in both 2007 and 2010.

This past November I knew going into Nanowrimo that I would have a difficult time with my new schedule. Nevertheless, I set out with my goal to complete my 50,000 words for Nanowrimo. I started off ok, ran into some writers block, but then eventually found my pace and actually wrote some segments that I was really feeling good about. I was actually catching up! And then just before Thanksgiving disaster struck. Instead of backing up my Nano manuscript of approx 20,000 + words, I saved an old back-up of less approx. 6,000 words over the top of the original Nano. I was devastated. I searched both of my flash drives, the hard drive, everywhere. My manuscript was gone. I halfheartedly tried to recreate my work, but had little success, and ended on November 30th with 7,385 words.

January has traditionally been a month for me to hunker down and do a lot of reading and writing to help me get through the winter season. This January found me struggling with any motivation to tackle my WIP or my goal to find an hour a day to write. I have done a fair amount of reading, but very little actual writing.

Ok, so now it is nearly the middle of February. The days are getting longer and the sun is rising earlier. We have a new family schedule in place where I can reasonably plan to get up and write for an hour every morning before facing any of my other obligations. This past Wednesday I set my new goal to get up and write for one hour every morning, Monday through Saturday. (I make it a practice to not work on my current WIP on Sundays. Everyone needs the weekly day of rest is my motto). No blogging or internet is allowed before the allotted hour is over. I've signed up for Rachel Harrie's February Campaign Challenge, but all blogging will be reserved for the evenings that I have time for internet activities.

Here's how I have done so far:

On Thursday morning I did get up and write for my hour. :)

On Friday I caved, and spent the appointed hour reading. :(

Today I spent several hours writing and revising, and have also visited the blog. (Now it's time to go and finish cleaning the kitchen . . .)

Let's see if I can make a new habit!

My Theme (Resolutions) For The Year

"Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life —
learn some and think some and draw and
paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some."

 — Robert Fulghum ("All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten")

I ran across this quote by Robert Fulghum this morning and decided that I rather like it. I've been trying to think of what my goals/resolutions are for this year, and haven't been too inspired until now, but maybe this will do it. So do we still have any paint around anywhere? Maybe this calls for a paint by number set. I haven't had one of those for a long, long time. Hmmm.

I originally created this blog as a place to explore and share my attempts at being creative.  The past few months I've been trying to focus a lot on writing, and I've had a great time exploring the wide wonderful world of blogging.    I think, however, that right now I need to expand a bit in my creative endeavors, and not concentrate so much just on my writing.  Don't get me wrong, I still plan to work on and finish my current WIP during this year, and I still plan to continue blogging, but I also feel the need to do more learning and reading and thinking and drawing and painting, and singing, and dancing and playing, and maybe even some  sewing and quilting, in addition to the daily work of my life.
 
I'm also going to continue to look for the good things in life, but will be mostly posting my reflections on gratitude on my original blog at Random Thoughts and Tender Mercies.
 
So here's to wonder and a balanced life in 2012!