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Showing posts with label January. Show all posts
Showing posts with label January. Show all posts

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

My 500 Words - a 31 Day Challenge!

Firstly, a Happy New Year to you all! 

Now that 2013 is out of the way we can look forward to 2014 with hope and optimism, and what better way to do that than by starting straight off with a challenge!

I'm not making a long list of resolutions for this year, or goals that I want to achieve by a certain date.  Whenever I do this the list dwindles and falls by the wayside, I fail to achieve even half of them and I'm left feeling deflated and a bit of a failure. I'm not setting myself up for any kind of fall this year.

My one and only resolution is simple: to write. And hopefully every day.

Imagine my delight, then, when I came across this timely little challenge in my inbox this afternoon ...

My 500 Words Widget 


This little gem was sent by Jeff Goins, and if you've never heard of him before I would recommend checking out his site and signing up for his newsletters. He is an inspiration to hard-working writers, whatever stage of the journey you're at, and his updates always seem to come at just the right time when I need a boost.


It's come just at the right time for me, when I want to get my writing going again after a longer than intended sabbatical. 


The rules couldn't be simpler:

  • Write 500 words per day, every day during the month of January.
  • You can write more if you want, but 500 words is the minimum.
  • Don’t edit. Just write.
  • If you miss a day, pick up where you left off. Don’t make up for lost days.
  • Encourage, don’t criticize (unless explicitly invited to do so).
  • Blogging counts, but email does not.
  • All of this is completely free.

If you want to join in too, just head on over to the sign-up page, add a comment and add your blog to the linkup. Don't forget to keep track of your progress throughout the month and there are Facebook and Twitter groups too.

So are you in? 

The beautiful thing about it is, blogging counts for your daily total and this little post is my first 377 words for today!

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Monday, 4 February 2013

Writers Book of Days - January catchup

A Writer's Book of Days, revised editionJanuary Success rate:  11/31 = 35%


I'm a little dismayed at the start I've made with this challenge. I started out well, the best intentions of a fresh New Year start I suppose, but once I was back at work I seemed to run out of time during the day again.
I tried having some catch up sessions, but the purpose of doing the exerise is lost then really. All I'm doing is trying to get my word count up and check off another couple of days on the list.

So, I have missed out rather a few days in the first month, but I'm going to pick it up again this month doing the right prompts on the right days. If I get some spare time now and again I'll try and go back and fill in the gaps but I'm not going to make it into a chore.

When I have found the time to sit down and do it, I set my timer for 20 minutes and just type until the alarm goes. Each time I'm pleasantly surprised at what I can produce in response to the prompt. Sometimes the final entry only loosely relates to the initial thought, evolving as it does as the words appear on the screen. The mood just seems to take me and the entry takes on a life of its own. This is both fascinating and a little spooky.

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