No, I don’t mean I’m going to stop my 30-day challenge on Day 29.

I mean that I’m debating my next challenge.

Earlier today, I looked at the calendar. Seeing how close I am to the end of the month, I was thinking idly of what to do next. Keep going for another week? Another two weeks? Maybe even another month?

Then, I happened upon a post I wrote in September, 2017, entitled “One Hundred Days.” I had no memory of writing anything with this title, so I went back and read it.

It seems that in 2017, I apparently felt I needed a nudge to write more. I found an article where violinist Hilary Hahn posted that she had practiced the violin for 100 consecutive days. It turned out that there were all sorts of 100-day challenges on the internet. So, I decided to commit to writing for 100 days.

It was a nice idea, but life intervened. I started the challenge on September 1, and on October 5, I awoke to the blaring of a the smoke alarm. Four days later, I wrote a post in which I committed to continuing the challenge. I don’t know exactly when I abandoned it, but I know I did, because nearly two weeks passed before I put up my next blog post.

And I forgot all about that challenge for the next seven years.

Maybe I was naïve last time. Or maybe I’m being more demanding this time. Last time, I just had to write something. Anything that wasn’t billable work counted—blog posts, story scraps, journal entries. Now, however, the challenge is to continue working on my novel, writing 1,000 words on that book every day. And for someone like me, with a day job and other commitments, that’s one hell of a daunting challenge.

The obvious advantage is that if I continue at my present pace for another 71 days, I’ll end up with 100,000 words—in other words, an entire first draft—by July 9. Considering how much I struggled with my last book, the idea of having an entire draft to work with this early in the process is very appealing.

The obvious disadvantage is that 71 days is a really long time.

When I started my current challenge, I wasn’t intimidated. I didn’t even think about whether I could do it. My focus was much more on the developing story than on checking off days on the calendar. If I can maintain that attitude, I can meet the challenge. Add to the story every day, 1,000 words at a time. That’s all.

That, and hope that no new crises arise to interrupt me this time.