Day 1 is the most fun
I’ve always loved starting new things. There’s excitement, challenge, novelty - all things my brain craves. I can’t tell you how much joy it brings me to start a new thing on a Monday. Bonus points if that Monday is also the first day of a new month.
After many successful starts (and far fewer successful continuations), I know the reality: this feeling will wear off. I won’t be able to rely on the excitement and drive of a fresh start to push me to get things done. While I’m usually not sure how long it will take for reality to hit, I’m expecting less than a week this time.
Why? I have an immovable circumstance that will make a few days (infuriatingly, the first four days of Nanowrimo) incredibly hard to stay consistent. I won’t be in my comfortable, predictable location or routine, so I’ll have to get very creative.
As I’m writing this, I’m reminded that the only thing that will solve this problem is a realistic plan. Not just a plan. A plan says “I’m going to write 1776 words all four days I’m on vacation.” A realistic plan says, “I will likely not be able to hit that word count every day of vacation without a few things in place.”
Here’s the tricky part. What do I need to accomplish my goals within the reality of my life? Here’s what I’ve got so far:
I need a SOLID outline so that the only thing I have to do on those days is crank words out.
I need a tool to write that allows me fits and starts, odd times, and syncs across devices.
I need built-in margin for catching up after vacation.
The good news is that all these things are do-able. I already have a great outline for the first part of the book. The beginnings of drafts usually flow pretty easily for me, so I’ll use that to my advantage.
While I want to write a lot of my book in AutoCrit (not sponsored but highly encouraged), I can’t easily write on AutoCrit from my phone. Therefore, I’ll start the draft in the Word app, which can sync across my phone and computer. Once I’m back from vacation, I’ll plop it into AutoCrit and continue from there.
Finally, I’ll set up a writing session (or a few) the next weekend with multiple hours to catch up on word count. I’ll plan this alongside my sister, who is also a writer, so that I have accountability to actually GO and WRITE and catch up. And probably drink a lot of coffee.
Thank you, Day 1 energy, for sponsoring this wave of words and realistic plans.
Note to my future self: Remember how good it feels to be doing what you say you want to do. Remember that the thirty extra minutes of snoozles are not actually restful and definitely not worth missing out on this sense of accomplishment and progress. Remember that the only true failure is quitting.
