500 Word Challenge: Day 2
Day 2 is supposed to be about goals. I talked about some of my goals yesterday, but today I will see if I can write 500 words on them. Since I was a little kid, I have loved writing. Back then I wasn’t so self-conscious about my writing, and though my parents tried to help push me along, I put it aside for several years. I took two creative writing classes in college, but it always seemed that I was much better at writing research papers than stories. In my heart I feel like a writer, and it frustrates me to no end that it doesn’t transfer to paper.
1. I would like to keep this blog updated. So I need to decide what I mean by updated. I would like to be able to write 500 words every single day, but I fear that I would run out of things to talk about. However, there are hundreds of websites out there with prompts, and I have several TV shows that I still want to write about. And this brings me to my other concern: what’s the purpose of this blog? I want to write what I like to write about and if people read it great, but at the moment I don’t think anyone reads my blog anyway. Just because I don’t blog every day doesn’t mean that I can’t write every day. I will post daily for the next 30 days. After that I will continue to write daily but post weekly.
2. Get in the habit of writing. I mentioned yesterday that I just want to get back in the habit of writing. I need to take time each day to just write. I need to not over analyze what I am writing (because that frustrated me). I just need to write. Along with habit, I need to work on my writing skills. I tell my students that reading for just a ½ hour every day will improve your reading comprehension. So, I will take my own advice and write for at least a ½ hour every day. The real challenge will come when I have completed the challenge. I am hoping that I will come to love the time spent at my desk writing and not be anxious about it.
3. Get ready for 2014 NaN0WriMo. I have attempted the NaNoWriMo twice. But the idea of 50,000 words in 30 days really blew my mind. I went into both of them with no preparation and ended up bailing two days in. Between now and November, I will be preparing: creating outlines, doing some research, and most importantly working on my dialogue. Dialogue is tough for me. All my characters come out sounding like me. Maybe the piece I write won’t be an original piece of fiction. I wonder if fanfiction would count. I think that taking characters that have already been created is a great way to practice writing. I could study their speech patterns and find out what makes each character different.
There were a lot of little goals in those 3 main goals, but it felt good to write it all out.
WC: 528