500 Words per Day, 366 Days a Year - Oh My!

Defiantly Literate

Well, I've gone and done it again! I've signed myself up for another writing challenge. No, it's NaNoWriMo in January, it's #WIP500, silly.

In classic Write Me Happy fashion, I stumbled across this challenge by pure luck. And by pure luck, I mean Twitter. Oh Twitter, is there nothing you can't do?

#WIP500 is the brainchild of Cara Michaels and it works as follows:

1) Write 500 words per day, every day, in 2012.

2) See above.

Yes, it's just that simple. Every day I write 500 words on my work in progress (hence the WIP for those, like me, who are sometimes acronym challenged).  500 words isn't all that much for a daily total. I can usually crack that off in one #wordmongering #wordsprints #wordwar session, easy peasy!

It's the whole, every day part that seems a little more daunting. Cue dramatic music.

Over the Christmas holidays my resolve to write every day, got lost in the chaos. Instead I went an entire week <insert gasps here> without writing a single word on either of my WIPs. Okay, so I made notes in my trusty notebook, and blogged a few times, but nothing substantial.

On Wednesday, a week from my last writing session, I admitted to my fellow writer tweeps that I had been a bad girl. Suddenly, true to their amazing nature, my #wordwar buddies sounded the drum and we set off to write. That 30 minutes sparked a fire in my mind and I continued to write for the next 6 hours accomplishing 6,616 words. Some comeback, I'd say.

So with January 1st looming and two WIPs begging for my attention, I plan to call upon all my writing buddies to give me a push (or kick) towards my 500 word daily goal. Like me, I know that sometimes they will need that push or kick or a crack from my most famous whip (Yes, whip! Just ask a few writing buddies!) and I plan on delivering. While writing is an extremely individual sport (for the most part) cheerleading is not, and I plan to be the best damn cheerleader out there!

Tallyho Writers! Success in the form of 500 words per day.

Did I mention it's a leap year? Yeah, just my luck....

It's Christmas & I'm Thankful for YOU!

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It's Christmas Eve day, I'm sitting at my writing desk, hunched over my computer reading wonderful blogs and tweets from other amazing writers and thinking how lucky I am.

I know it's usually Thanksgiving that we state what we are thankful for, but given that Christmas has become a mega holiday filled with presents, greeting cards, food and oh so delightful eggnog, I wanted to strip back all the glitter and glamor and get to the real sense of Christmas for me.

I am not a religious person. In my younger years I took a strong stance against religion in attempt to rebel against those who were. It was wrong of me, but only age has shown me this. However, I do consider myself spiritual, though I still despise the label. This spirituality has lead me on a journey to discover who I am, at my core. It's here I discovered and embraced my writing, my own uniqueness and my comfort with those around me. I embraced tolerance, understanding, empathy and all those other really fantastic traits that I lacked as a young adult.

So with that little piece of insight on how the cogs turn inside my head, I move back to my original thought, thankfulness.

I am thankful for a wonderful husband who gets me like no other has. He sees my faults and accepts me anyway. He challenges me when I need it and never lets me storm off angry, which I have a tendency to do. His support is unquestionable and I love him with all my heart. Even though that sounds kind of cornball, it's the truth. Thank you!

I am thankful for my family and friends that have been incredibly supportive over the last few years. Those who have comforted me, celebrated with me and given me the nudge I needed. That laughed, cried and scolded me, sometimes all within the same conversation. Without all of you, life would be dull. Thank you!

I am thankful for the writing community I have tapped into via Twitter and Blogging. Without you, I would never have been able to complete an entire novel in November! Hell, I wouldn't even know about NaNoWriMo. All your #wordmongering #wordwars #wordsprinits #fivesentencechallenge helped me through my writing block and continue to motivate me to write, write, write. Thank you!

There are so many other people I could thank individually, but this short post would end up giving The Never Ending Story a run for it's money.

So in closing, this Christmas, I am blessed and thankful!