It’s that time again! Roll up those sleeves, brew that coffee, and prepare to get to work!
Labor Till Labor Day!
(A writing dare)Start: August 1st
End: September 1st, Labor Day
Rules: Set a writing-related goal, keep us updated via your method of choice, and report your results on Labor Day.
Optional: Set a reward for success and/or a price for failure
I’d like to add a new element this time… accountability. (See my SF Novelist post for more info.) What can we do to reward ourselves for success and/or what can we do to punish ourselves for failure?
The best idea I’ve ever seen was implemented by Mike Canfield (if I recall correctly): for every goal he failed to meet, he had to donate money to a cause he actively disagreed with (such as donating money to the presidential candidate you don’t want to win). Brilliant!
Does anyone have thoughts on how to implement accountability? If you want to set your own rewards and punishments along with your goals, feel free.
UPDATE: I forgot to list my goals!
I intend to revise my novel during this dare. The whole damn thing. Some parts need a lot of help, some parts need less help. They all need love, and I’m going to give it to them.
I don’t have my rewards or punishments picked out yet — I’m waiting for all of you to give me a brilliant idea.
I got that idea from the work of psychotherapist Albert Ellis, from "Overcoming Procrastination" Or one of his other books, maybe "A Guide to Rational Living."
But anyway, I am on board! I can't start a dare until Sunday though, so it will be a 30-day goal for me. I'm working on a novelette now an have a stack of story ideas collecting dusk, so my goal is to write 30,000 words of first draft short fiction by Labor Day, that's an average of 1200 words per day. Finish one story, and continue with the next first draft immediately. I'm working on tightening up my turnaround time between projects. I'll update more or less daily on Twitter (http://twitter.com/michaelcanfield) or my moribund blog, and report back here on Labor Day!
Good Luck!
That's an ambitious goal, Mike! Glad you're playing — I look forward to your Tweets! We have a bunch of other folks playing, too, but they've signed up on Livejournal (where my journal is mirrored).