When asked by my husband what I'd like for Christmas there wasn't really many things that I could think of. I think we've got to that point now that I don't really
want all that much. However, one thing that had been on my wish list for a little while was A Writer's Book of Days by Judy Reeve, so I thought 'why not?' and suggested it to him.
I first became aware of this book through
Vicki Thompson's blog, The View Outside. She spent all of last year working through it and posting about her progress on her blog pages. It seemed like a great idea to help me get kick-started with a proper writing routine so wanted to give it a go.
I thought about it a lot in the build up to Christmas and was getting excited at starting the challenge on 1st January, but then I started to worry that he may not have ordered it for me. And what if he hadn't? It was going to be too late to order it in time to start on the first day of the year. And you can't really ask someone whether they have or haven't got you something, can you?
Anyway, Christmas arrived and he had indeed got me this little gem so I was ready to go once 2012 had disappeared.
Photo courtesy of http://judyreeveswriter.com/
This book is full of tips and encouragement to help writers keep going with their writing practice. The chapters are divided into each month of the year and within them is a different prompt for every single day. It is supposed to help writers get used to scheduling time into each of their days to write something, however little.
I've been doing it every day so far, spending at least 20 minutes writing to the prompts. In the book it says you're supposed to just sit down with your notebook, write the date and the prompt at the top of the page and then launch straight into it. Don't give any time for contemplation or planning, just go with whatever comes into your mind when you write down the prompt. This isn't always easy though. Often only a couple of thoughts pop into my mind, which I write down and then try to weave them into something that makes sense.
My first couple of entries turned out to be more reflective musings on how I think and feel about my writing, but I want to try and write short pieces of fiction or even (eek!) some poetry maybe.
I also have to start telling myself that not every prompt I write about is going to be brilliant. I mean, that would be great, obviously, but it's not going to happen at this early stage of my journey. Some have been alright, they have potential for something more later on, but some have been a bit of a ramble. But, the important thing is I'm getting words down on the page and practicing my writing.
I'll post an update at the end of the month to let you know how I'm getting on with this, but in the meantime writing prompts await ...
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Don't Break the Chain is an idea from Jerry Seinfeld, who set himself a target of writing something new every single day of the year. For each day that he managed it he could put a big red cross on a 365 day calendar he'd made for himself, and over time that chain of red crosses would grow. By missing a day the chain would be broken and he'd have to start again. The challenge is to not break the chain.