The Perfect Writing Moment

Sadly doesn't exist.
For years, I have been waiting for a moment. Where in my perfectly crafted office/reading space, I would be able to sip wine and create a beautifully written romance novel. I imagined in that space everything would come together and the words would flow from my fingers. I imagined that I could find amazing amounts of time just to write. I dreamed of a space of light and comfort. I dreamed of somewhere I could never not be uncomfortable. I dreamed of a space where people would just leave me alone to write. I dreamed of all of these things.

And guess how much I wrote? Not enough to be called a novelist or a real writer. I was a hobbyist who wrote only when the mood struck me. I had never realized that until a few years ago when I attempted National Novel Writing Month. You learn a lot when you challenge yourself and push yourself to write every day no matter what. You're no longer waiting for the perfect moment. You are just looking for space to spend some time writing --whether it is at the kitchen table, on your bed, or on the sofa or even at a coffee shop.

So I challenge you as I write again this month with a goal in mind. Not a perfect moment but a word goal.... Good luck to you... And to myself and hopefully we will create together...

Goal No. 1 ACHIEVED!!!

I did it.

I did it.

I did it.

For the first time ever in my life, I did it. I hit 50,000 words on a story!!!! 90 pages!!! I can't believe it!!! During the month of June, I have been fighting to finish my novel. You know the one I started two years ago during NaNoWriMo... and still haven't finished! This summer I decided for once and for all, I'm going to stick with it and finish it. My major goal is to be able to say we are on the revision stage by August 1st. But my first goal was just to hit 50,000 words like what I had hoped in November for like two years. 

Well on this past Saturday, I did it. I hit 50,000 WORDS!!! 

I cannot express with words how much this means to me. How accomplished I feel. How happy and motivated I feel. It's a first draft. It's in the beginning stages, but it's almost finished. I hit the over halfway mark. I hit it. A goal that I thought I'd never hit. A goal that has taunted me for years. I finally hit it. The story itself is not over yet. It has still about 20,000 words to go til I can call it finished and ready for someone else to read it. But the goal that seemed kind of impossible at the beginning of the month is definitely feeling a whole lot more possible! 

Blank Spaces and Moments

Writing is not always a happy go lucky all the time. Some days it's a blank screen staring at you. Some days you can't write fast enough.
There is so much advice out there about what you should do so you "never" hit that blank moment. Write everyday. Read daily in your genre. Read daily everything. Read and write everything you can get your hands on. Journal. Blog. The list goes on and on. Some of it pretty good advice and then not.
I admit it is harder to write when you haven't in a long, long while. The blankness seems forever and there is no way around it.
And yet I sit staring at a blank screen or a blank page and the words won't come.