Friday - Entry 15:
With November winding quickly to a close, I have been reflecting on how well I have done using Lift to track my progress with NaNoWriMo. Given that I have freelance writing work and another book project that takes my time on top of being a single dad, I was asking a lot of myself to also work on NaNoWriMo. Yet, I wanted to train myself to work daily on my fiction. In the past I have wasted so much energy spinning in place and being distracted that I wanted an incentive to train myself for a higher level of functioning. After all, only by steadily moving forward can I make progress. Besides, it's not as if success will mean I'll have more time on my hands. I need to learn how to write both types of books simultaneously.
I started the month off with a bang, and have really been racing along this past week, but there was a giant block in the middle of the month where I wrote nothing on my project at all. Not even 25 words a day. It is possible that I forgot to record some days, but I cannot deny that I need more work making fiction writing a daily event.
What's wonderful about Lift is that it can show me stats by week and month or as the traditional calendar with the days I completed filled in for me. I've also been interacting with others who joined the challenge to write such a meager amount of words per day. It has been encouraging giving props and getting them. As long as I remember to log in and update my progress, Lift is a great, visual method of tracking progress. Perfect for my ADHD.
Since I have ADHD, I am likely to get sidetracked from time to time. Lift helps me stay on track. I enjoy using it as opposed to having dedicated calendars up on a wall where I cross off the days. I lie keeping my calendar of progress in my pocket, but more importantly, this whole process is showing me how low a priority I place on my fiction writing. I truly do have difficulty justifying time to write fiction.
My goal for the rest of the month is to work on my middle grade novel every day, no matter how busy I am. It is my hope that with practice I will come to enjoy working on my fiction as opposed to reading news or spending time online. Time is precious and I'd rather fill in the little bits of spare time I have here and there with something that brings me joy as opposed to something that merely entertains.
~Dˢ
