I keep having this nagging sensation that I’m letting myself down during this entire Lent season. Yes, I set a goal of 2000 words per day. Even though I did 3500 words yesterday, I still don’t fell like it was enough. Between distractions and other commitments it’s tough to start and stop. I’m getting better at it though.

Having your flow interrupted is painful. It’s like cruising down the freeway and having a tire blow out.  It’s not a matter of getting back on the road, but how fast you can get back on the road. After getting three or four flats in a row, it gets harder and harder to get back on that road.

That being said, it should also be getting easier each time, right? I feel like each time I stop writing I should be able to hop back into it faster. Unfortunately it’s just the opposite. I get frustrated, I get upset, I lose focus, and after several interruptions it’s over. I can’t focus or get any more words out. I’m trying to correct this as I know things will happen. I need to be able to focus on those 5, 10, and 15 minutes of downtime to produce words. If I’m going to have a successful JuNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo I need to work at short busts.

I also need to start typing faster. My last speed test was ~60 words pre minute. That’s pretty good, and I know I’m capable of better. I’m looking at what’s slowing me down while I write and taking steps to overcome those or find ways around them. It’ll take time and practice, but that’s what this entire year is about, right? Practice, getting my writing chops back, getting my work out there, getting myself out there. Proving to myself that I have what it takes to be an author, not just a writer.

In other news, my favorite daughter had a couple of awesome practices the past couple of days. I’m SUPER proud of how she did. I told her last night “You don’t realize how high you’re jumping, do you?” She didn’t. There’s an archway in front of our complex and she jumps to try and touch it each night. When she’s not thinking about it and just jumps she can touch the numbers on the plaque. When she’s thinking too hard, she can just touch the arch. I keep telling her to stop thinking about it and just do it.

Getting back to me (this is a blog about me, isn’t it?) I’ve been telling myself the same thing. Stop thinking about it and just do it. I need to quit distracting myself and take those few minutes here and few minutes there and when I have a chance, type furiously. This is how I wrote 100 short stories in a year. This is how I wrote a 60,000 book in a week. By taking advantage of every minute I could and just typing without thought and just letting the words happen.

Of course, I didn’t have some of the personal things in my life happening that I do now. It’s a matter of finding that clear moment in my thoughts and just letting it all go. Realizing that I don’t need a 1, 2, or 3 hour block to pound out a large number of words. All those 5, 10, 15 minute segments will add up and I’ll get more words done. It’s amazing when you really think about how much free time you really have in a day.

Oh, in other happy news. I have this belt. Let’s call it belty. It’s a BIG belt (as in goes around my waist big) and long ago in a house far, far away I had to put a new notch in it. Well, that notch hasn’t seen much action lately as I hadn’t needed a belt to hold up my pants. Recently that notch got some use down around my hips. Yesterday it got some us up around my waist. I’ve always said a waist is a terrible thing to mind, but gee, shedding a few pounds and seeing my clothes fit better (or just plain fit) has done wonders for my outlook. I may get a little grumpy at times, but I’m getting over that. I think more of that stems from putting pressure on myself to produce words.

Walking the past few days (did I mention I’m walking again?) has helped clear some cobwebs. It’s nice to get out there and just let the old mind wader, get some fresh air, and get the old heart pumping. Not shin splints yet, and hopefully I’ll be able to avoid them this time around by going VERY slow and building up even slower. It’ll take time, I know, and I don’t want to hurt myself again. That really sucked.

On even happier news, I demoed what I’d been working on (actual work) to my boss’s boss and she was very happy with what she saw. I’ll have a very relaxing weekend knowing that I still have a week of development and the project is pretty much complete. I’ll be doing a lot of tweaking of code, fine tuning queries, and just making it a happier application.

So even though I’m a little down about missing my Lent goal (by around 20,000 words) I can’t be too disappointed that I only wrote (67,876 as of this writing). My goal was 88,000 for the entire Lent period. I missed, but I got nearly 80% of my goal over the forty some odd days of Lent. I have a lot of gaps in fiction output, but still have a running streak of blog posts and Unorthodox Writing Tips. I won’t be breaking that streak. I’ve got 3 UWT in the can (scheduled) so I won’t miss. They’re now coming out on Friday. If all goes well we’ll see the first UWT ebook released in the coming days. I’ve asked Dan Dan the Art Man for another cover. I’m sure it’ll look awesome! He’s good like that.

There is a lot to do and only a little time to do it. So…

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!