I meant to do a halfway-there post on my 100-day writing challenge, but I forgot. So, here I am, 10 days late, to say it’s going well. The last time I did a challenge like this, I was very neurotic about writing every single day (since that was, after all, the point of the whole thing). If I was at the end of the day and hadn’t written anything, I would take out my trusty stack of post-its and jot down some ideas, just so that day “counted.” I haven’t been that neurotic this time. There have probably been at least 10 days when I haven’t written anything at all. But, I still consider this challenge a success so far. Why? Because I’ve thought about my writing every day. And I’m making progress on projects. Sometimes, just setting a goal is enough to get moving.
I’m working on a novel that I started years ago and then abandoned. I have no idea if it will ever make its way into the world, published, but I am trying not to concern myself with that (the struggle is real). I have about 300 pages. Granted, I had written many of those pages years ago, so this has been mostly an editing endeavor, with some new writing here and there. I want to see it through. I have this habit of starting novels and then abandoning them. It will feel good to finish all my partly-finished novels, one at a time. Then I’ll start something totally new.
I’m also working on a collection of short stories. Some of the stories are new, some are old. I thought I would look back on old stories and cringe, but a few are decent. I’ve always wanted to polish my stories, so it’s nice to set aside some time to do that.
I have a memoir I’m tinkering with as well. I was actively writing it for a while, but it’s been in the background for a few months now. I add notes to it whenever something crosses my mind. I have about 200 pages written, along with several pages of notes. It’s not the right time to “finish” the memoir, if that makes sense. Some life things need to unfold. I feel confident about letting that one be for now. It’s chilling on the back burner.
My goal over the next 40 days is to finish the novel and polish a handful of short stories.
And now I leave you with a couple quotes I came across recently and love:
“The deepest purpose of reading and writing fiction is to sustain a sense of connectedness, to resist existential loneliness.” — Jonathan Franzen
And this one:
