My Mama Writing Challenge
Posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009by Viola Estrella
Or something like that. Sorry, my brain hurts. It’s Thursday June 25th as I write this and I’m on day four of a “Book in a Week” writing challenge sponsored by a fellow writer in my local chapter. I pledged to write 15,000 words this week and I’m now at (let me check) 11,913. Not bad, considering it’s summer break and all four of my sons are home from school.
In fact, I’m not sure I would’ve written as much if I hadn’t had their support. Crazy, right? I’d had concerns that I would’ve spent the entire time at my computer listening to arguing and tattle-taling and whining and begging and, well, you get the picture. And, of course, I have experienced some of that but, for the most part, they’ve kept themselves busy.
But what surprises me most is how they’ve been cheering me on. I announced this writing challenge to them last week, thinking I’d get some eye rolls and some complaining, but they jumped right on board with the idea. My two youngest sons have gone so far as to keep track of my word count each day. I had a personal goal to write 3,000 words for 5 days straight, but yesterday I’d stopped at around 1,300. When my son found out I hadn’t met my goal, he said, “Mom, go finish. I want you to win!”
Competitive, much? Not sure where he gets that from. Hmm… Seriously, I didn’t set out on this challenge to win a Starbucks gift card (although that would be nice!). I joined up to challenge myself, to see if I could push myself out of a slump. And I think I’ve accomplished that. I’ve fallen back in love with my WIP (work in progress), especially the hero. Yowza. I’ve got a new sense of accomplishment and confidence. And, after I went back upstairs last night to crank out another thousand words after being scolded by a 10 year old, I think I made my kiddos proud.
Now, back to work! And, yes, I’m adding the words from this post to my word count. No, I’m not competitive in the least. Why would you think that?
Viola Estrella
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Vi,
Great post! My kids come through for me often when I’m expecting the worst. I gave up on writing the past two weeks then, magically, Wednesday we had no baseball practice or coach-pitch or swimming lessons. My son begged to veg in front of the TV and play his rented video game and my daughter went to a friend’s house to play…
Almost four hours later, I had also fallen back in love with my WIP, trudged through some plot probs and written about 1500 words!
That night at dinner my kids asked if I’d had a good day. I told them it had been a great day. “Did you get a lot of writing done?” they asked. I nodded. “Good,” they said, “because you’re happy when you write.”
A teary-eyed hug fest followed…
Ain’t life grand?!
Good luck with your challenge!
Tiffany
Hi Tiffany!
Aw, that would bring tears to my eyes too. I love that kids can see when we’re passionate about something. And it’s amazing how a couple hours of writing time can make such a difference in our mood, huh? I get really grumpy when I don’t get that time.
It’s great to challenge yourself like that! And it sounds like you have a wonderfully supportive family (and a healthy dose of competition never hurts!). I hope my boys will be like that when they get older. I can write for short bursts but since they’re both under 3 I can’t let my attention wander too far. Plus, they like to play with my laptop when I’m writing which horrifies me! I’ve already had a close call with losing my stories because of little fingers tapping on random keys. Yikes!
Hi Tricia!
Oh, it’s so tough when they’re that young, isn’t it? It does get easier though. And, oh my God, I don’t even let my older kids near my laptop. Forget it. I so understand that fear. lol!
Viola~
It’s so important for them to see they can affect & inspire & encourage us, not just the other way around.
Way to go! And yay for your kids!
Great job on being so close to your goal. Write, write, write, write.
Good for you Viola!!! That’s awesome!
I challenged myself similarly this week. We leave on vacation at the end of next week and I challenged myself to finish two writing projects. I completed one today–only edits now! Yay! And I have one chapter to go on the other one
Here’s keeping fingers crossed you met your challenge, and I would certainly add those blog words in your word count–heck, count the responses too!!! LOL
Sorry I’m so late on this, but FABULOUSO!! Congrats on the challenge and the amazing word count. You GO girl!
Renee
Viola - congrats to you. Well done! way to go! writing begets writing - as long as you’re exercising that muscle, there’s no end to the words that will fly from your fingertips!
Let us know when you win. I’ll pop a bottle of champagne for you!
Ash