zwei_hexen | Write every day! January 2020

china_shop

Let us know if we missed you or if you didn't check in for a while, so we can add you. Of course joining the fun is possible at any point.

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ysilme here: still feeling exhausted from lack of sleep due to coughing. I wrote about two sentences so far, I think, and re-posted my pinch-hit story to my usual haunts after the reveals tonight. Not much to show for the day so far, but I hope a bit more is coming forth still.

sylvanwitch here: I finished editing, found a title and managed a summary for, and posted the Bond/Q story I've been working on since mid-December. Feeling good! :-)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For the purpose of this challenge, you decide yourself what "counts" - the whole intent of the challenge is helping each other along with keeping up with writing in the way each individually needs to. If somebody only wants to count words written for stories or finished/posted stories, that's perfectly fine. But as a not-rule (since we don't really set rules ;o) ) the challenge operates on the idea of "everything counts as long as it counts for you", and if this is just an alibi sentence or even just your comment for reporting your tally, that's perfectly fine.
Those of us who're doing this for a few years already have noticed that it does make a difference to occupy your mind each day with "writing", no matter in what way. Most or all of us (I don't know as nobody keeps track ;o) ) count editing, and sometimes also research, as worth counting for the challenge, and the alibi sentence is a thing!
I started doing this after NaNo 2016 and am doing this continually since then. I've learned over time that for me it's most important to keep at it every single day, no matter with what. I need the feeling of have done something "creative" related to writing to keep me motivated and on track if the inspiration is lacking and the writing energy is low. So even if I'm "just" editing or researching, I'm making a point to write an alibi sentence, which sometimes is something just written for that purpose and won't be kept. But it does still make a difference, for when I get back to my story I can see that something happened, no matter if it's just for throwing away. If nothing happened that might easily make me doubt or throw me off again. I'm sometimes also counting letters/mails or even long comments written to friends, if they're about writing, or about details concerning a story or so. I'm also counting blog entries if they're about a certain subject and not just a personal update or so, and so on.
But it's really just up to you. You don't need to tell anybody or explain anything, and you also don't have to list a number of words or so - nobody will ask for proof or check it. Just do what works best for you and what you need to keep going, as this is the main purpose of the challenge: to support ourselves. :o)

Thanks for the extra explanations! :) I absolutely agree that it makes a big difference to do something writing-related every day, even if it doesn't take the form of putting words on paper. I know it's easier for me to come back to writing after a week's break if I spent that week thinking about the story, brainstorming, even if casually, researching something, etc. But if I start completely neglecting everything writing-related, it's a lot harder to get back into it.

Also, I love the idea of an alibi sentence! I saw it mentioned a couple of times in the comments here and meant to ask what exactly it was. I should try something like this.

I think I'll be just reporting editing days as such whenever they happen, because I'm pretty certain they count for me. Probably things like outlining and planning, too, because that's also a big part of writing for me, even though it's only for my own reference.

Write every day! January 2020 - Day 3

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