Oh errr, I’m now finding myself in the strangest of situations. One I thought I would never be in.
I have procrastinated over writing for many years. Told family and friends I wanted to be a writer but never actually putting pen to paper. I sat down at my laptop many times only to get distracted by the latest episode of Neighbours that sat in ‘My Shows’, that just had to be watched or spuds that needed peeling.
Then I saw an advert on Pickmypostcode.com, for a new website called Enterprising Writers, a woman called Ali was in the pre-website stages and wanted funding. In return I would get a one-to-one with her to discuss my writing and a free months membership. ‘What the hell’ I thought and signed up. That was the day that changed my whole writing ethos.
During lockdown I have written one book and am half way through another thanks to #WRITE2021, which Enterprising Writers initiated. The simple motivation of writing 2021 words a week, a total of 105,092 words in a year. When you say it in full like that it seems unachievable, but broken down into weeks it is so much more manageable. The weekly check-ins on the website makes you more accountable and gives you the motivation to carry on. It is so much harder quitting when people are watching you.
When I started I was not convinced I could do it, although to some 2021 words a week seems simple, to me it seemed a mammoth task. As with anything I started out with gusto, and for weeks, as there was nothing else to do in lockdown I exceeded my goal, sometimes writing double the amount in a week. Then we came out of lockdown and I thought I might fail, but apart from one week when I didn’t reach my goal due to family commitments, I exceeded the word count every week. Thankfully I was in such a routine by then and enjoying writing so much, that it came naturally.
I am now at the stage where I have completed the #WRITE2021 challenge, 15 weeks ahead of schedule. The plan was to edit the first book now, as I didn’t want to trade quantity for quality whilst doing the challenge. The problem I now have is that I can’t stop writing. Who would have thought that?
Tina’s writing 