The End of Lent

As the end of Lent approaches, I'm suddenly realizing how much I've accomplished. Although writing at least a paragraph a day was hard sometimes (last week I had parent-teacher conferences until 8:30 three nights; then there was All-State speech Monday so I wasn't home until nearly 8, and freshmen orientation was Tuesday night, etc.), allowing myself to make up the writing another day helped me keep going. Most days I "made up" the writing the following day. Last week, with all the school stuff going on, was the only time more than three days went by without writing (except for when the power was out for six days at the end of February--but I made that up as soon as it was possible).

This feels like such a life change and I'm so excited about it, I could easily write paragraph after paragraph about writing a paragraph every day. I'm motivated to continue doing this! That's huge for me!


I've powered through at least two major writer's blocks and come out the other side, not always entirely pleased with what I have on the page, but extremely pleased with myself for getting through it.

I've learned that I enjoy writing things out of order, and then plugging the already-written parts into the story later on. It's satisfying to have a ten page chapter written, and then copying and pasting it into the main manuscript, and suddenly, the manuscript is 92 pages instead of the 82 it was fifteen seconds before.

More importantly, even when I'm not writing, I find myself thinking about writing. I've had two major breakthroughs while thinking about my novel in bed (one was Tuesday night) and one major breakthrough while thinking about my novel in the shower. (Actually I've had three major breakthroughs while thinking about it in bed, but I didn't think long enough about one, and lost it. I couldn't remember what it was in the morning, and I still can't. I think it's gone for good. Now I understand why a lot of writers say they sleep with a notebook next to their bed.) I still have many things to work out about the story, but planning is my favorite part.

So as Lent comes to a close, I'm feeling empowered and motivated enough to continue writing a paragraph a day. I'd say wish me luck, but what I could really use is continued motivation. So ... wish me continued motivation.