Photo credit: milivigerova on Pixabay

A much better day today. For one thing, I just finished, and it’s not even 11:40 p.m. So, relatively early night.

Second—and more importantly—I made actual progress. I did some editing, which went back to the ever-important question, Did I cut more than I wrote? But in the end, I ended up 1,000 words ahead of where I started, which is definitely a win.

It’s hard to believe this is the eleventh day of the fourteen-day challenge. I know I shouldn’t be looking too far into the future, but I’m wondering how I’ll keep going when I no longer have this challenge to hold me accountable. Of course, I could always do my own challenge, such as making sure I write every day and charting it on my calendar, but somehow, that never quite works. Despite my best efforts, I never manage to have an entire month of writing every day.

Take this month, for example, I was off to a great start for the first nine days—and then I got appendicitis. Even after I came home, I was so exhausted most of the time that creating was the last thing on my mind. Between June 9 (the night before appendicitis) and June 17 (the first day of this challenge), I only wrote once.

I suppose the wiser thing to do is to concentrate on finishing this challenge before I start worrying about the next, but that’s never been my way. I like to plan. It makes me feel secure. I need to have something lined up, or I’m going to flail. Not that I have anything against spontaneity, but with the way this book has progressed, I feel the need for some guide rails.

Luckily, I still have a few days to come up with something. For now, I’m going to start getting ready for bed—a mere three hours earlier than last night. Then we’ll see what brainstorms tomorrow brings.