As a method to keep myself honest — and for one more data/bragging point when it comes to end-of-year reflection — I have decided to keep a tally of days I don’t write for 2014.
I’ve never tracked this before, but this is the sort of data accumulation that makes me happy. It’s encouraging, in an odd sort of way.
From a purely pragmatic standpoint, I can’t expect to write every day. Life has the distressing tendency to interfere, and that sort of unrealistic expectation would only make me feel the failure. Which makes it easier and easier to fail, and harder and harder to dig myself out.
But every day I don’t put down a tally mark for non-writing is a victory. I’m allowed tally marks! I expect them and know they’re not negative things. They indicate the days I’ve taken a break, and breaks help prevent burnout.
I’m allowing myself to count non-story writing, so long as it’s creative and for myself. Blog posts count!
So here we are, more than two weeks into the year, and not a single tally mark. I almost had to make one on Sunday. When 11pm rolled around and the specter of sleep, I decided I wasn’t ready to make that first slash, so I wrote a sentence. I hoped to get a paragraph, but would take even a single line. Two pages later, I finally shut the light off.
Fun fact: I’m writing more regularly now than I did in NaNo-November. Maybe there’s some hope to me finding that write/life balance, after all . . .
Melissa Burkart 