A 30 Day Writing Challenge

We are 15 days in to the writing challenge (actually I’m only 12 into mine as I started late) and I’m not sure how I’m doing. I’ve been writing every day but I am all over the map. I’ve written monologues and I’ve written short stories. I don’t know if that is good or bad but I will say that I am very pleased with my short stories since I feel that my imagination has come back, just a glimmer of my former self but it is there. That makes me happy. My coach is saying that we have to be kind to ourselves but it is very hard not to be critical of one’s own writing. We want it to be perfect and enjoyable for others.

A friend of mine once said “Susanne you need structure.” It was such an insightful thing to say and I was only surprised that I hadn’t recognized it in myself before she said it. It’s true, I do best when I have a goal in mind, when things are organized, when I have a proper schedule to make it happen. If I don’t have that then I am all over the map and that makes me crazy. I like a Plan.

So let me tell you a story about one of my Plans. Many years ago I decided on a Financial Plan. I was going to save this much money and not spend on this or that and then at the end of the year i would have This Much Money in my Savings Account. I worked diligently at it when suddenly we had one of those famous Chinooks blow my eaves trough down on both sides of my house. Alright, I have insurance so I called to get the trusses repaired. Unfortunately I had a $500 deductible which had to come out of my hard won savings. First mishap. No sooner had this been repaired than I had a frightful episode whereby a vandal had smashed in my side windows in my car. Another $500 deductible. I was in despair as now my savings were all drained. I threw my hands up in frustration and said “enough with the Plan”.

My family will tell you that I do not like a Plan to go awry, it frustrates the heck out of me. That is one of the reasons why I dislike taking on a project that takes more than a day to complete because I don’t like the idea of having something beckoning me to finish the next day especially if the next day is a work day. So if I want to paint my bathroom it has to be when I have several days to work on the project so it will be finished before I go back to work.

Given this side to my personality how does the idea of a book project work on my psyche? Surprisingly well because I am not completely anal (?)!!! Sunday mornings are now dedicated to the Book Plan and I know this will work well because I already nest on Sundays. I’m not big on gallivanting around on Sundays but the problem is to hunker down and have my thoughts assembled for the marathon writing. Currently working on my 14^th year which ought to be interesting as it was a very topsy turvey year – 1967!