A Year of Writing!!!!!

For years, I've wanted to get into the habit of writing Every Day.  I've known that I need that kind of structure and self-discipline to keep myself motivated and working.  And for years, it didn't happen.  I would get excited about a project and would write regularly for a while, but then I would hit a sticky spot in a piece or I would finish a draft, my enthusiasm would curb, and the next thing I knew months would pass without my writing anything.  I would chide myself, but not do anything about it.

Then early last September, something happened.  I'm not really sure what made me keep it up, but I started writing daily while working on the first draft of my novel.  And unlike in the past, the streak lasted more than two weeks.  As it passed one month, I thought it would be fun to keep track of it on this blog, to show everyone how long I'd gone.  The next few months passed and I didn't stop.  Then the number on my sidebar became a matter of pride.  I didn't want to stop writing and have to reset the thing to zero.  So I kept going.

Some days have been great and extremely productive.  Others have been tiny, with me forcing myself to reach a minimum few hundred words or 15-20 minutes of revisions to make sure I did something.  But I haven't taken a day off.  Not a single one.  And today, I reached the year mark.  365 days of writing!

Now technically  I haven't done 365 days straight.  If I had, this post would have appeared in September.  But something happened during that time, as you likely know:  I had a baby.  And I didn't think it was fair to reset the counter when all jobs worth anything allow for maternity leave--so I decided mine would allow for a leave too.  I gave myself a break and am now back on the horse, albeit I often have to deprive myself of sleep to get anything done (crazy boys won't always nap at the same time!)

So now I've done it.  A whole year.  And I still don't want to reset the counter.  Realistically I know I can't keep this up for the rest of my life, but for now I intend to keep going strong.  Hopefully, even after I do miss a day or a week, the self-discipline I've developed will help me get started right away again.  We'll see if I can't write another of these posts next year!