The Lightning and the Lightning Bug wants us to write uninterrupted for ten solid minutes. Didn't think I was up to the challenge, but I managed. Will you join us? Click the link below!
9:03pm
Ten minutes of uninterrupted writing? You’d think that’d be
easy, and for some, it probably is, but for me…the classic overthinker…this
exercise has been torturous. I’ve thought about it while showering. While lying
in bed at night. While eating my fruit roll-up for breakfast. While grooming my
four cats. I’ve thought, and I’ve thought, and I’ve officially given up
thinking at this point in favor of getting something…anything down on paper.
I’ve realized something over the last few days. I suck at “just
writing.” I need a purpose. I need an idea. I need direction. Sitting down and writing
just to write? Nope, that’s just not me and that kind of makes me ashamed. I
should be able to write on command, right? Yeah, not so much. I’ve never been
that kind of writer. I need just the right amount of inspiration mixed with
just the right amount of motivation mixed with just the right amount of wine,
then I’m set. But until I hit that “just right” point? I can’t just write.
When I thought of this prompt on Sunday, I thought, “yay!
Something I can actually participate in.” Because honestly, I’ve been running
short on the inspiration department lately when it comes to prompts and writing. I just
don’t get inspired like I used to; then again, I figure I’m just going through
a dry spell. Happens to the best of us, right?
Well, I’m sick of dipping my quill into a dry inkwell. It’s
time to get that inspiration back…even if it means just writing for ten minutes
about absolutely nothing other than writing, which is probably boring for
anyone but me.
I picked up my novel again over the weekend. And by “picked
up,” I mean I opened the Word document it was hiding in and actually started
looking it over. I even wrote a few paragraphs tonight. 250 words to be exact.
Which is 250 more words than I’ve written for it in nearly six months. Sad but true.
Like my new determination to walk off my jiggly beer gut and live a healthier
lifestyle, I’m also determined to write this damn novel.
That means spending less time surfing facebook and twitter
and looking at cute pictures of cats on the internet, but it must be done. I
have a story to tell, and I’m going to tell it.
It feels like it’s already written in my head anyway; I just
have to find a way to get it down on paper, and I will. I’m determined. If it
takes 5,000 nights of 250 word spurts, then that’s what it takes. Becky Garrett
wants to be heard; she’s sick of living only in my head.
Well, my last minute is winding down. I guess I can write on
cue after all.
9:13pm
