Daily December Goodness
Oof, this week! Poor Patrick got sick, so did MrD, and along with lots of random scheduling commitments (from MrD's lovely school play to my own physio appointment), I didn't get a single full-length writing session all week long. Wahhh! Since I really rely on that writing time for my emotional stability (especially when I'm so exhausted from sleepless-baby nights), that could have been a complete disaster.
But...
At the beginning of December, Jenn Reese posted a manifesto: The Daily December Pledge. She committed to writing 1,000 words a day, and she invited everyone to make their own daily December pledge, whether it was writing one holiday card a day, or any other small, do-able daily goal.
I loved that idea, and I committed to writing at least one or two lines of my own fiction every day in December (starting December 4th, when I made the pledge). On a normal week, when I get a two-hour writing chunk every weekday, that would really be a no-brainer. This week, though...well, every night this week on my way to bed, I thought, "Gah! I haven't written anything yet!" But I had to write something, to fulfill my pledge...and more than that, Jenn is holding community check-ins every day on her Facebook page, where we all report in on what we've done (or haven't done).
No one on Jenn's page is mean. No one would think badly of me if I said, "Oops, I didn't manage it today." But I didn't want to do that - not when it was just one or two lines that I needed to write!
So, every night this week, as I nursed Baby X to sleep, I hammered out at least one or two lines of story, which often turned into half a page or so...and each time, it really was just a little chunk of words. Without my Daily December pledge, I would never have bothered, because honestly, some of those daily reports I wrote were just "59 words today" or even - on one very exhausted night - "23 words". And what good is that going to do for my progress? Without the pledge, I would have just gone to bed frustrated every night, thinking, There's no time to write anything significant, gah, this sucks, I'll never get anything done this week...
But guess what? Last night, after I wrote my words, I added up all my little writing chunks of the week so far, and in the last six nights, I actually wrote 1701 words. Now, of course I know that there are a lot of writers who write more than that every day. But first of all, I'm on maternity leave right now, and second of all, what I'm working on this month is MrD's chapter book, The Desperate Adventures of the Badger Bandits (which I REALLY want to finish in time for Christmas). The full manuscript of that book is only going to be about 8,000 words total!
So in that context...1701 words is really significant. It really is an achievement, this week. And more than that: that tiny Daily December Pledge (just one or two lines a day) meant that every single day, I touched base with the story. Emotionally, that made such a difference for me! It reminded me every day that I'm still a writer, even if I am currently on maternity leave, without any external deadlines or contracts at the moment. Also, it kept me in the headspace of my story, so that when I sat down (or, er, lay down, actually) to write my line or two, I didn't have to spend any time refreshing myself and reminding myself of what was going on. My subconscious had been ticking away at the plot issues ever since my mini-writing-session the night before.
I am so grateful to Jenn for thinking up the concept of Daily December and making her Facebook page into a warm, supportive community space for it. And now I'm thinking: what am I going to do in January??? If no one else starts something similar, I may have to start something myself for that month, because wow, has it made a difference to me.
It's been good for my parenting, too. Feeling like I'm still myself - doing a little bit of writing every day even on a week like this one - gives me the emotional breathing space to relax and have fun when I'm with my kids. I'm not battling stress or anxiety (When will I get to write again?) I'm just enjoying my babies, with the knowledge that I'll get a bit of writing done later, even if it is just a line. And that'll be just fine.
So here's a little Photobooth pic of me and Baby X this morning. You can't see it, but we were sitting by the Christmas tree, having a quiet Sunday morning together while MrD was out with Maya-dog and his grandma, and Patrick was working upstairs.
Happy December!
But...
At the beginning of December, Jenn Reese posted a manifesto: The Daily December Pledge. She committed to writing 1,000 words a day, and she invited everyone to make their own daily December pledge, whether it was writing one holiday card a day, or any other small, do-able daily goal.
I loved that idea, and I committed to writing at least one or two lines of my own fiction every day in December (starting December 4th, when I made the pledge). On a normal week, when I get a two-hour writing chunk every weekday, that would really be a no-brainer. This week, though...well, every night this week on my way to bed, I thought, "Gah! I haven't written anything yet!" But I had to write something, to fulfill my pledge...and more than that, Jenn is holding community check-ins every day on her Facebook page, where we all report in on what we've done (or haven't done).
No one on Jenn's page is mean. No one would think badly of me if I said, "Oops, I didn't manage it today." But I didn't want to do that - not when it was just one or two lines that I needed to write!
So, every night this week, as I nursed Baby X to sleep, I hammered out at least one or two lines of story, which often turned into half a page or so...and each time, it really was just a little chunk of words. Without my Daily December pledge, I would never have bothered, because honestly, some of those daily reports I wrote were just "59 words today" or even - on one very exhausted night - "23 words". And what good is that going to do for my progress? Without the pledge, I would have just gone to bed frustrated every night, thinking, There's no time to write anything significant, gah, this sucks, I'll never get anything done this week...
But guess what? Last night, after I wrote my words, I added up all my little writing chunks of the week so far, and in the last six nights, I actually wrote 1701 words. Now, of course I know that there are a lot of writers who write more than that every day. But first of all, I'm on maternity leave right now, and second of all, what I'm working on this month is MrD's chapter book, The Desperate Adventures of the Badger Bandits (which I REALLY want to finish in time for Christmas). The full manuscript of that book is only going to be about 8,000 words total!
So in that context...1701 words is really significant. It really is an achievement, this week. And more than that: that tiny Daily December Pledge (just one or two lines a day) meant that every single day, I touched base with the story. Emotionally, that made such a difference for me! It reminded me every day that I'm still a writer, even if I am currently on maternity leave, without any external deadlines or contracts at the moment. Also, it kept me in the headspace of my story, so that when I sat down (or, er, lay down, actually) to write my line or two, I didn't have to spend any time refreshing myself and reminding myself of what was going on. My subconscious had been ticking away at the plot issues ever since my mini-writing-session the night before.
I am so grateful to Jenn for thinking up the concept of Daily December and making her Facebook page into a warm, supportive community space for it. And now I'm thinking: what am I going to do in January??? If no one else starts something similar, I may have to start something myself for that month, because wow, has it made a difference to me.
It's been good for my parenting, too. Feeling like I'm still myself - doing a little bit of writing every day even on a week like this one - gives me the emotional breathing space to relax and have fun when I'm with my kids. I'm not battling stress or anxiety (When will I get to write again?) I'm just enjoying my babies, with the knowledge that I'll get a bit of writing done later, even if it is just a line. And that'll be just fine.
So here's a little Photobooth pic of me and Baby X this morning. You can't see it, but we were sitting by the Christmas tree, having a quiet Sunday morning together while MrD was out with Maya-dog and his grandma, and Patrick was working upstairs.
Happy December!