write daily

For the past month, I haven’t logged on to 43T. I’m not sure why, but the usual excuses or rationalizations abound. August is always a heavy month.

Now I’m breaking the pattern. And the right place to start is with an update on this task.

In the past month I’ve written in my journal almost every day, with a few gaps driven my schedule. But my creative work has fallen off from my “page a day” pace of the summer. I’m committed, though, to get back to this pace.

Not every day is brilliant prose. But every day I do creative work feels like a better day, and on all but one day, there was something of value that I produced.

Today is where my book begins. And the rest is still unwritten.

Yesterday I didn’t do any creative work. _{I did get some exercise for a change, though.}

A small defeat. Now I can’t let it happen again.

First week complete. I wrote 20 minutes or more every day this week. The actual total amount of time writing and editing for the week is actually around four and a half hours. In addition, I put in 14 pages of journaling.

“A writer is someone who wrote this morning.” – Roberta Jean Bryant

By that definition, I’ve been a writer for more than a year!

So far so good.

I have dedicated 20 minutes a day to creative work (which includes editing, re-writing, character sketches and the like) for four days in a row.

I even got a new draft poem in the deal!

I’ve decided to establish this as my new writing goal, and to start recording my progress on daily writing here.

Nothing has been better correlated with my well-being and mental health than my track-record of writing every day. Journaling for two to three pages minimum, and a page of creative work or more whenever my life’s margin permits.

Just keep writing…