end of week one- a month of obsession

END OF WEEK ONE!!


I am so proud to say that I have kept up with my goal, and even surpassed it!  Here are my numbers since last time:


Jan 13: 2,107
Jan 14: 2,125
Jan 15: 2,052
Jan 16: 7,116 (!!!!!!!!!)
Jan 17: Day Off


I can't even TELL you how much of a difference this is making.  I have had so many breakthroughs, it's intoxicating.  


The first thing I learned about writing 2000 words a day is that its DIFFICULT.  Sometimes, I just ended up sitting there.  Waiting.  Thinking.  Trying to be brilliant.  Or just maybe write a word- yes, let's start there.  


Before this Month Of Obsession, that's where I would have stopped.   But if I wasn't at my wordcount,  I couldn't stop anymore.   So I would just keep thinking, and thinking.  I had decided that I wouldn't let myself do anything else (internet, reading, movies, etc.) until I had hit my wordcount for the day.  Sometimes, that ate up the entire day.


But, you know what?  EVENTUALLY, I thought of something. Every. Time.  I didn't know I could do that!


Another thing I learned is something that I've read a bunch of times, and Stephen King says it in On Writing, but for some reason I didn't just LISTEN to him, I had learn it the hard way, of course.  Here it is: If you are IN your book, your story, your creation- ENOUGH- your brain starts connecting things in ways you have never experienced before.  It always takes me a little bit of time to get back IN it, before it starts flowing.  What I've found when I'm writing so much more is that I'm thinking about it ALL THE TIME.  I wake up thinking about a character.  I see something and suddenly think of a perfect way to tie in two seemingly unrelated story lines.  It became so real, I found myself dreaming about it, and waking up thinking of solutions, or where I will go next.  


Sunday was supposed to be my day off.  I don't know if since in my mind I was thinking I didn't HAVE to write, that it just all flowed, or what, but it was AMAZING.  I seriously couldn't stop.  Honestly I didn't get out of my pajamas until about 3 in the afternoon.  I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.  It was like I couldn't stop!  I was in the ZONE.  I mean... 7,116??  For me, that's a personal best.  :)


It's interesting, because I have been working on this series for years, and I have soooo much written.  But  a few months ago, I finally got the storyline SOLID.  I finally got it to work.  I figured out an ending and solidified how I was going to write it.   


Now its just getting it OUT.  On the paper.  


It really helped me to tell my friends and family about my commitment.  They ask me about it every day and keep me motivated and accountable.  


I havn't finished today, so I've got to go for now.  But it feels good to check in here, and say that I'm still going strong on A Month of Obsession!!