Writing and Sharing

This is a note of inspiration I left on 750words-dot-com on not-writing, writing again, and sharing.

Phoenix [an award for writing at least 750 words 100 days in a row].

I had a 58 day streak going, then I lost it, and I was like: 'Ugh! I don't want to have to start over!' But that didn't matter. What was in front of me was that I was starting over, whether I wanted to, or not.

And I learned from my 58-day streak. I learned I could go 58 days, and I learned that if I let my writing slide, then the day gets in the way, and then I get tired, and no matter how much I want to write before midnight, sleep still won, at least one day in 58. So, now, I write the very first thing. I know if I write starting right after midnight and get in my 750+ words, then that's one thing that I did that I said I would do for the day, and it makes the rest of the day so much better. And, when I don't do that, when I do sleep earlier, which is occasionally, then the first thing I do when I wake up is weigh myself, take my vitamins, drink my orange juice, and write, and write until I'm done, and write before my self-imposed 9 am deadline.

And when I don't do that, which is these last two days, then I have from 9 am until midnight to get in 750 words.

AND ... I have a sense of urgency about it. I have 102 days on this streak, and I'm not interested in breaking it this time.

So, I write.

And I enjoy it, when I get it done in a timely fashion, and I enjoy it when I have 15 more hours to get it done.

So, I'm enjoying writing, very much now.

I have something to compare it to: I took more than three years off from writing, and I just bottled all these thoughts and feelings inside, and I was irritable and unpleasant to be around. My fault, and I knew what to do about it. And I didn't. For a year. Then a reader of my story "My Sister Rosalie," 'demanded' I get back to it or all kinds of ill-wishes would come my way.

So I wrote the next chapter, chapter 56, and it was terrible. But it was 10k words, and it was a start, and now I'm working on ch 79, and I'm happy again. I'm writing again, and touching people's lives, where they are, and giving them something to read and to enjoy with the promise, God willing, that they'll have something to look forward to in that next chapter forthcoming and in the next book when I finish this one.

And 750words.com keeps me on track, writing, every day, a little something to keep this story going, to keep me going, and to keep hope, enjoyment, anticipation alive in my readers.

It's a very, very good thing, writing, then sharing it, then knowing that you've touched people's hearts.