Guest Blog Post by Natasha Morales
Today, I took a look at my diary and realized I had grievously failed my 30-day goal. What was my goal? To write 500 words on a daily basis. How many days did I do? Not a single one. I couldn’t really say why it was that I didn’t do it. Sure, I could blame it on school. But school ended on August 11, leaving me with three weeks until school starts again on August 30. Even while school was going on, I had plenty of free time to play games on the Xbox 360 or on my computer. After all, my daughter takes naps, and there are times when I have nothing to do. So, why didn’t I write? Because writer’s block hates me.
You know what I hate about writer’s block? One of the best ways to cure it is to write. Yet when I have writer’s block, everything I write sounds TERRIBLE to me. I’ll write something, take one look at it a few days later—or even that same day—and decide that it sounds so awful I don’t even want to continue. And so I spiral back down into writer’s block. Have I decided I’m going to do something about it now? Yes. What have I decided I’m going to do about it now? I’m going to write. It doesn’t matter if it’s crap as long as it’s getting the juices flowing. Once the juices are flowing, the mind can start to piece together good stuff. After all, not everyone can start with masterpieces on their first drafts.
I recently had to write a business letter, and that business letter went through five drafts. Five. That business letter was barely 4 pages long. There was one sentence on page 4. Now just imagine what a large piece of fiction would have to go through if that was just a small business letter. Thank goodness for diaries/journals where you can just lay it all down. No one has to see the crap before you polish it into a beautiful stone. Diaries are meant to be secret. Journals can be shared or can be private. Either way, you can still hide those drafts if you want to.
So, what does this all have to do with my 30-day goal? It means that I’m not going to sit here and pout or throw a fit because I missed my goal. It means that even though I fell off the horse, I’m going to get back up, dust myself off, and climb back onto that horse. I’m going to do what it takes to get myself rebooted, and I’m going to start by writing this little piece before heading over to my diary. And after I write in my diary, I’m going to start editing my novel like I promised myself I would do after I completed it for NaNoWriMo. That’s what I have planned for my new 30-day goal. But it’s not going to be 500 words daily now. No, I’m going to start even smaller. With 100. We learn to walk with small steps, and I’m going back to the newborn stage.
Here's a link to the blog post explaining the 30-Day Goal from Create Write Now: How to Journal Your 30 Day Challenges.
About the Author
Natasha is a newlywed who just celebrated one year of marriage. She is also the mother to a rambunctious 1-year-old. All her life, Natasha has wanted to write, and to be a mom and teacher. While going to school for teaching, Natasha spends time writing on the side. You can find her blog here at http://moralesnn.typepad.com/blog.
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