I
quit blogging, but I didn’t quit writing. For a couple of years I wrote and
posted every week. I would ponder what to write about and every Monday I would
compose and post a blog here. Usually the topic was just something I was
thinking about. It was rarely poignant enough to share and sometimes quite
dull. But I kept at it because it was part of my writing regimen. But around
the middle of last year, I just stopped.
I
had to be truthful. I told myself I was blogging to stay in the habit of
writing, but there was plenty I could do to maintain the habit other than the
blog. I was really blogging for the attention. And once in a great while I
would post a winning blog that people might read and comment on and that just
fueled me. And I realized that if I was writing for attention, then I needed to
change what I did.
I
kept writing. I spent a few months revising the hardcopy of Sidewinder. Then in October I
participated in a challenge to write 500 words a day and post them on my blog,
which I did. In November I wrote a first draft of a new novel for National
Novel Writing Month. When that was done, I started into a 4th draft
of Sidewinder.
I wanted to finish
it by the end of February, but it went a lot slower than I thought it would. But
then finally I hit a pace and started writing every day. I only missed a couple
of days and in the end had a 51 day writing streak. I finished the 4th
draft of my novel yesterday.
Now what? My biggest
fear is that I will fall out of the habit of writing. This could be especially easy
to do this week when I’m getting less sleep due to my busy work week, the week before
Easter. So I managed to get up this morning with the thought that I would write
a blog post. I thought it would recap everything so far about Sidewinder, instead it’s been a recap of
my writing life of Sidewinder? I want
to share about it. Maybe tomorrow. I have a lot to consider for it. I’m in uncharted
waters. A 4th draft of a novel, not ready for publication. So again,
now what?