WFMAD – Day 2 – Your Abundance of Time

You're back!!! Yay!

Congratulations to everyone who started yesterday and welcome to the newcomers. Thanks to all who took the time to post a comment or something that they wrote yesterday. Was it harder than you thought or easier to take those fifteen minutes? (Note: the first day is the easiest. But don't worry. We can do this.)

This is the problem, right? You want to write, you yearn to write, but there is never enough time. Your job sucks up eight hours a day minimum, and your commute, and then there is the grocery shopping, and the kids have to be picked up, etc., etc., etc. Or maybe you're a full-time student and all your teachers expect you to do 80 million hours of work every night. Or your family needs you 25 hours a day. Or you're already a published author and the need to stay active on social media and fuel the publicity machine and remind the world that you're alive steals every waking moment. (Yeah, that last one is aimed at me! Now you know what I allow to get in the way of my writing time.)

Blah, Blah. Blah.

Do you want to write that book or do you want to talk about writing that book?

Life is complicated and hard. That will never change, so save your breath and stop whining about it. I know that you're wasting at least fifteen minutes a day farting around on the Internet. How does reading People.com improve your life and get you closer to fulfilling your writing dream? Did playing Candy Crush help you write any pages last month?

Our brains are wired to enjoy the false sense of accomplishment that we get from clicking on things as we scurry around cyberspace like hamsters smoking crack. Our compulsion to click on listicles about cats is rooted in the same brain wiring that makes people play nickle slots at seedy casinos for hours on end.

YOU HAVE AN ABUNDANCE OF TIME.

I know you have fifteen minutes. That's all you have to do today. Write for fifteen minutes and promise that you will write for fifteen minutes tomorrow. This month is about putting your dream first and giving yourself permission to make it happen. TURN OFF THE INTERNET AND WRITE BECAUSE IT WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY!!

Today's non-fiction prompt: What is your favorite time waster? Be specific: write down the websites and what you get out of spending time on them. The television shows and movies that you've watched in the last movies. The phone calls, coffee dates, lunches, or evenings out that robbed you of time you'd like to have back. What time of day are you most likely to engage in these time wasters and why? THAT IS YOUR WRITING TIME!! When you're done responding to this prompt, set an alarm for tomorrow's writing time.

Today's fiction prompt: Write an internal monologue of a character in which s/he rationalizes and justifies which websites s/he visits. Start with websites that have a strong connection to the character's work and/or life, then follow the path down the rabbit hole until your character is doing something silly (like playing Candy Crush). Is change possible? What will it take for that character to change?

Fifteen minutes. More if you want, but just fifteen minutes spent writing today could change your entire life.

Scribble… scribble… scribble…

19 comments

September 1, 2013

WFMAD – Day 1 – Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

WELCOME TO THE 6TH ANNUAL

WRITE FIFTEEN MINUTES A DAY (WFMAD)

CHALLENGE!

This is for you if you want to write.

If you struggle to find time to write.

If you want to get ready for NaNoWriMo in November.

If you are wicked insecure about your writing ability.

And if you are a gifted and skilled procrastinator.

The rules of the WFMAD Challenge are simple.

Commit to write for 15 minutes every single day this month.
Write, just like you promised yourself.
There is no Rule #3. Life is already too complicated. Two rules are easy to remember. The point is to get you to write, not bog you down with silly regulations.

How does this work?

Things are going to be a little different his year. For starters, we're doing it in September, not August (which we started doing the year my mom died), and not July, which was the original month for WFMAD. This year's challenge was moved because a) I'm busy working n the next book (ASHES), and b) my new YA novel, THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY comes out in January and I'm already busy with early publicity chores, and c) our son got married in August, so life has been more hectic than usual.

I'll post a blog every day. It will have some writing prompts and not-so-gentle reminders that you PROMISED to write for 15 minutes. YOU SWORE AN OATH! This is boot-camp for your writing discipline, my friends. There is no whining in boot camp. No excuses. Just writing. And random outbursts of dancing.

Where Do I Sign Up?

No sign-ups, although in years past, writers have double-dog-dared their writer friends to join them in the Challenge. I suggest a high-stakes bet with your friend, if you choose to do that.

Do I Have To Respond To Your Prompts?

Hell, no! Write what you want, write what the little voice in your head is whispering. But if you are stuck, try out the prompt.

How Can You Tell If I Am Doing It?

I can’t. It’s between you and your Muse, unless you tell your friends or leave a note in the Comments section of my blog. (I must admit, I like it when people do that.) Sometimes people post their day’s writing in the Comments section. (I like that, too.)

You are accountable only to yourself, ever, for the amount of time you choose to spend writing. Or if you blow it off. This is a good place to begin the daily discipline, and to get in the habit of that accountability. Here you are with friends who understand the struggle. Feel free to tell us all about your writing challenges, or ask me questions in the Comments section.

What if I screw up and miss a day? Or a week?

Then you start over! Don't waste any more time beating yourself up about lost writing opportunities. There are only three situations that should ever interfere with your writing: you have a new baby, you are sick enough to be in a hospital, or you are caring for someone who is that ill, and someone you love has recently died. HOWEVER…. all three of these situations evoke powerful feelings and if you could write even one sentance a day when you are in the middle of them, it would be awesome.

HELP! I'm totally blocked! I can't think of anything to write!

You've come to the write, I mean right, place.

Today's non-fiction prompt: Write about why you are afraid to write. What is your worst writing nightmare? What is the worst thing that can happen if you send 15 minutes a day, every day for the rest of this month, writing?

Today's fiction prompt: Write a silly fable about two cows. Cow #1 follows her dream of being a performance artist. Cow #2 dreams of being a performance artist, but lacks the courage to try. You can see where I'm headed with this, can't you?

Fifteen minutes. More if you want, but just fifteen minutes spent writing today could change your entire life.

Scribble… scribble… scribble…

38 comments

August 27, 2013

Read an excerpt from my new book!!

Entertainment Weekly is running the exclusive excerpt of my new book, THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY!!!

Go read it!!

While you're doing that, I will run around the woods and squee with excitement!!!

Censorship is the Child of Fear and the Father of Ignorance

In this short video I speak up about why parents should let their kids read books that reflect modern reality if they want them to be prepared for the real world instead of being destroyed by it.