While I scrubbed the bathroom floor on one of those Sundays that necessitated a thorough house cleaning, I heard the front door open, followed by my then-fiance’s voice. “Don’t be mad!” Oh, no. He bought a pickup. (We’d been weighing the idea of getting a cheap-o pickup truck to help with house remodeling projects, to… Continue reading Puppy life
Tag: writing
New Year, new goals
It’s that time again. Goal-setting time. New year, new you--you know how it goes. So many brilliant people have written about the science of setting goals and how even more important is maintaining as habits the behaviors required to achieve them (shout out to James Clear--all of his work on this topic is worth a… Continue reading New Year, new goals
NaNoWriMo: Now What?
As I shared in my last post, I did it--I wrote 50K words in the month of November, effectively winning National Novel Writing Month. I’ve never drafted a full novel before, and it turns out that if you set a daily word count goal and work to hit or exceed that almost every day, you’ll… Continue reading NaNoWriMo: Now What?
NaNoWriMo: Week 4, the Grand Finale
Holy sh*t, I did it. I won NaNoWriMo.* 50,303 words (this includes section headers which amount to fewer than 150 words total, so fuck it), completed two days ahead of schedule. I. DID. IT. HOOOOW. Wait, I know how. I wrote almost every day. I hit or exceeded my word count every day. I carved… Continue reading NaNoWriMo: Week 4, the Grand Finale
NaNoWriMo: Week 3
Accountability check-in time: I’ve given up calculating my time spent drafting. I pretty much average around an hour a day, but I’m not able to measure the time I spend thinking through issues and ideas for the storyline(s). So, I figured that measuring draft time only gives me a partially accurate amount for total time… Continue reading NaNoWriMo: Week 3
NaNoWriMo: Week 2
Time for another NaNoWriMo accountability check: Still writing every day. Some days I’m more enthusiastic to start than others. Some days I end a session feeling buoyed by the process, and others I just feel tired. As of Nov. 14, I’ve logged 13 hours and 16 minutes (still less than an hour per day drafting).… Continue reading NaNoWriMo: Week 2
NaNoWriMo: Week 1
Seven days into NaNoWriMo, it’s time for a check in. My stats for the past week (shared in attempt to hold myself accountable): I’ve consistently written every day. During the work week, I put in about an hour of work before starting my day job. On weekends, this work takes place at some point in… Continue reading NaNoWriMo: Week 1
NaNoWriMo: Let’s Do This.
For the first time, I’ll be joining thousands of other writers in doing something a little nutty... National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo). This gamified activity is fairly self-explanatory: participants draft an entire novel in the span of a month. For real. A participant “wins” by writing 50,000 words in the form of a novel by… Continue reading NaNoWriMo: Let’s Do This.
Am I wasting my time?
Imposter syndrome strikes many creative types. (I write about my own struggles to overcome this nasty complex in an earlier post, and for additional recommended reading, check out this article on the topic from a favorite resource, The Writer’s Edit.) Imposter syndrome in a nutshell: You’re certain everyone will find out how much of a… Continue reading Am I wasting my time?
Battling imposter syndrome
You’ve been there. The feeling that you’re a total failure, unequipped to do the job. You know it, but no one else does… yet. Those around you are on the brink of figuring out that you in fact totally suck. Forget the training and preparation that brought you to this moment, and the experience that… Continue reading Battling imposter syndrome
Gail Marie Cole 