Alison Kent is challenging writers to whip out a full draft of a novel in the next 70 days. She’s giving prizes, too. Now you’d think that would be awesome motivation and I’d just jump right in and say “Count me in!” But prizes weren’t enough to overcome my negative self-talk. I learned about the challenge last Friday, but have shucking and jiving with myself for this entire week. What if I signed up and couldn’t write 4–6 pages a day? What if I signed up and couldn’t write for 70 days in a row? Oh, believe me, the “what-ifs” can drive a body crazy. And it’s not like I haven’t been there/done that in the past. I have a friend who’s convinced I could start an excuse factory and make a fortune. LOL

So I’ve hemmed and hawed with myself, should I or shouldn’t I? Which of my stalled-out works in progress should I tackle? Should I start from scratch with something new? Then I got to thinking that maybe I didn’t really need to sign up and be a formal part of the challenge; I could just write my pages and not tell anyone. No public failure and humilitation that way, eh? Like that’s worked before. LOL

All week, I kept reading Alison’s blog, watching the number of challengers grow to over 200. I read all the comments, checked out a lot of blogs, read all the tips. And still I hesitated to take the plunge. I know I’m not the only writer who’s been stuck or discouraged or afraid of failure or just plain needs a good swift kick in the derriere.

The deadline to sign-up for the 70 Days of Sweat challenge is midnight CST. I’ve had my eye on the clock all evening, still debating. Maybe what I needed was that ticking clock. I finally made the decision. And Tony Robbins says to follow a decision with immediate action toward your goal.

So tonight my name went up as participant number 261.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 13th, 2007 at 10:36 pm and is filed under 70 Days of Sweat, Write A Novel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.