Back in the Saddle Again!

I think I'll try to stick to the idea of a Tuesday and Friday blogging schedule. And it's Tuesday so I should probably think of something witty and fascinating to say. Right now. Oh dear.

I made, or perhaps re-made, a realization about my writing process today. Which is this: I respond extremely well to light-hearted bribery. Less well to threats. I'm under a lot of pressure from the Powers That Be (Laura, Tim and John, I LOVE YOU ALL, just to be clear) in regards to finishing The Novel by mid-August. Namely, if I don't have a completed first draft by then, I'm not supposed to re-enroll in my program for the semester. Which would, quite frankly, suck. It is my primary sponsor's last semester, so that would really mess me up. And, let's be honest, I'm so ready to be graduating come December. That should be enough to have had me writing up a storm since I got the news in May, right?

Wrong.

If anything I've found it HARDER to find my character's voices and sort out my plot. Probably because there is so much else going on in my head that they get drowned out. And because the pressure sure does take some of the fun out of creating.

But today, rather than yet again listening to me whine about how little progress I am making, my beloved Hannah C. Stuart set me some light-hearted goals. For every 500-or-so words I wrote I got a little piece of writing from her (and, let me tell you, I love Hannah's writing). I accomplished 1,400 words in under two hours.

The best part is that I feel capable again! I can see where I need to go, and I can hear my characters voices. It was just the kick-start I needed to get me going again. Thanks, Hannah!

I'm confident again that I can get this done by my deadline. I've got this. Plan? Plan is going to rue the day it challenged one Rebecca Mallary to a showdown.