The other day, my pal Big Anklevich made a comment on my blog about my goal (for September) to finally stop writing every single day. He said that it had been a year since he stopped writing every day (his goal was to reach 300,000 words--which he did achieve), and since stopping, not only had he not written, but other aspects of his life had fallen apart as well.
His last year, according to him, has been absolutely terrible (at least that was my interpretation of "a purposeless, shitty year"), and he lays at least some of that at the feet of quitting his laudable, impressive daily writing effort.
So, I did have that in mind on this, the first day where I no longer have to write, and would probably be best situated for moving on and starting something new . . . but his message did give me pause.*
I fell asleep while wasting time on Facebook, and ended up wasting the whole afternoon. I mean, I didn't even try to go to the library, because it would be closing twenty-five minutes after I got there. What would I have written about anyway?
Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In September: 1227
The day ended, and I didn't get a single word.
I figured that was that.
Push-ups Today: 50
Push-ups In September: 1429
Heck, the night was getting close to over, and I hadn't written anything (that lengthy nap really recharged my batteries, I guess, because I wasn't tired at midnight, nor at two, nor even at four). And that was fine, really.
But I kept thinking of what Big said, and so, as crazy as it sounds, just after five am, I opened up a document and wrote a paragraph. Then I wrote two more. At quarter to six, I yawned, and said, "Alright, good enough," and went to sleep.**
Words Today: 201
Words In September: 8794
*There are a lot of people who have to make mistakes on their own in order to learn for them. But verily I say unto thee, 'tis better to learn from someone else's mistakes, not having to make them yourself. Thyself.
**Okay, even that's a lie. I typed all this blog post, and then I let myself go to sleep.
1 comment:
I need to get you a new picture to throw on your blog when you're referring to me. I look so dumb in that one...then again, that might be the point.
As far as your writing goes, I don't know if you've decided to stick with the every day thing or not, and I wish I could say whether that's the right choice or not. The grind is definitely wearing.
All I know is that 2019-2020 was the single most productive year of my life. I felt better about myself than any other time in my measly existence. How much of it was because of the writing? Who can say, but it was definitely a big part of it. Since then, the depression that often dogs me is well...dogging me.
I keep trying to get my shit together, and I never seem to manage. Maybe it's because I haven't made writing a priority. Maybe that would help.
There has to be some kind of balance between writing and publishing though. My plan was to focus on publishing this past year, but instead I did nothing. Not sure how to best reconcile that. Maybe making a goal of a certain, modest, amount of writing and a certain, less modest, amount of publishing. I dunno.
I wish you luck with whatever you choose, however.
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