By Linsey Painter
This past month, I’ve been doing a 30-Day Creative Writing Boot-camp.
The idea is that you get into the habit of writing whether
you feel like it or not. Like an exercise boot-camp for your body, it’s only
with consistency that you can achieve your fitness goals, build up those
muscles, walk further, cycle faster and lift those weights.
Only writing when you feel inspired doesn’t produce much of
an outcome. Writing consistently means that you build up your ability to type
out more words everyday, get better at saying what you want to say and see the
vision for your book down on the page.
A big motto for the boot-camp
is,
‘You can’t edit a blank page’.
I look forward to my daily email telling me how many words
I’m supposed to write or where I’m supposed to write or what I’m supposed to
brainstorm for the day.
Even my kids have been getting excited about how many
words I’m going to have to clock up. They like to play a guessing game,
although the guesses usually range from 1 to 10,000 million words (Yikes! Don’t
think my writing muscles will ever be that strong).
I’ve been surprised at the results of this daily word count.
At the end of 30 days the goal is over 10,000 words. I’ve just crossed the
halfway mark in my days and I have already surpassed the end word count goal.
Writing begets writing and it seems the more you get words down on the page the more the words flow.
One of the things that I’ve gotten out of this daily habit
of writing is that my writing goal doesn’t always have to be a stunning word
count. The word count each day is different. On some days the challenge is to
get 250 words down and then just stop and walk away.
That was a good lesson for me to learn.
Part of my problem is thinking that whenever I sit down to write, if I don’t get at least 500 words, then it’s been a waste of time.
There are also different challenges; writing late in the
evening, writing in a different place to where you usually write, writing 500
words in 30 minutes or taking a day to plan out your story.
At the end of every email is thought for the day from
different writers like Stephen King or Margaret Atwood, to give you an extra boost.
I think the variety has been key for me. Having easier days
helps balance out those high-word count goals.
I’m hoping that after this boot-camp I’ll have built up my
writing habit and writing muscles to continue with consistent writing and
thwacking out words on the computer or in my notebook.
I have been doing my boot-camp through The Australian Writer’s Centre, but there is nothing stopping you
from creating your own challenges for each day.
Well, that is my 500 words for the day.
Linsey Painter loves to write stories for children and young
adults. Her stories focus on growing young hearts, challenging assumptions and
exploring courage in the face of life’s difficulties. You can find her at
linseypainter.com
