December 28

• Project: The Dreams
• Total word count: 200,622
• Today’s word count: 31
• Thoughts: I wrote! That’s two days in a row! It might not be much, but I’m calling this a success. I’m getting back into the swing of things. Writing hasn’t been going well for me for so long that I know I need to be kind to myself and really celebrate the small victories. If I don’t I’ll only end up feeling discouraged.
• Tomorrow’s goal: I’m looking forward to a quiet, peaceful Tuesday. It should be a good day for writing. I can’t wait to see how it will work out for me.

December 29

• Project: The Dreams
• Total word count: 200,713
• Today’s word count: 13
• Thoughts: It did end up being a quiet, peaceful Tuesday, but I still couldn’t find the mental fortitude to get past this writing slump. I’ll get there eventually. I’m just really, really impatient. I want to write and it drives me up the wall to try to make it happen only to find some important part of me isn’t up to the task.
• Tomorrow’s goal: I’m trying again. If you haven’t noticed, I can’t stop trying. Every day the need to write is there following me around and pushing me to keep trying. These slumps always have me questioning whether I’m a writer, but then I realize a non-writer would be able to step back and take an actual break without trying to write every day.

December 30

• Project: The Dreams
• Total word count: 200,722
• Today’s word count: 9
• Thoughts: I keep writing less and less. That’s the opposite of what I wanted to do. I’m probably putting too much pressure on myself. That is a significant problem because I really don’t know how to stop piling these expectations on myself. If I’m going to write, I expect to actually write.
• Tomorrow’s goal: Well, I’m going to keep trying to write. I can tell I have to write. I’m just failing to find the way to get past these final mental blocks to make it happen. At this point I’m struggling to accurately identify the mental blocks themselves so I’m still one step away from getting through this.

December 31

• Project: The Dreams
• Total word count: 200,751
• Today’s word count: 29
• Thoughts: I wrote a bit more than yesterday but I’m still not back on track. Being patient is hard. Tomorrow being a new year won’t magically change everything for the better, but I’m hoping I can turn the page and knowing this is a new year will give me the ability to make a fresh start with my writing.
• Tomorrow’s goal: New year, new writing goals! We’re having a really low-key New Year so the plan is to run errands like a typical Friday. Hopefully everything will be really empty and it’ll be less stressful than usual!

January 1

• Project: The Dreams
• Total word count: 200,765
• Today’s word count: 14
• Thoughts: New year, old struggles. Great. Just great. I’m so glad I haven’t managed to do the near-impossible and completely turn over a new leaf because the calendar switched over to a new year. I hoped it might push me to think differently and do better, but nothing really changed. Oh well. I’ll keep trying.
• Tomorrow’s goal: I’ll be trying again. Eventually this word dam is going to burst and I will be ready with my hands on the keyboard when it happens. I fully expect the flood of words to be awful at first, but once I get started, they will get better. Showing up every day will make sure I’m prepared to sit down and get to work.

January 2

No writing progress.

It wasn’t intentional. I had a project that required me to set up my old computer again. It needed a lot of work to get back to working order. That was a major distraction.

January 3

• Project: The Dreams
• Total word count: 200,801
• Today’s word count: 36
• Thoughts: I wrote again! I’m trying to celebrate every day I manage to write at this point because one of these days I’m going to write a lot of words in one day and it will be glorious. Until then I’m just going to keep trudging along and showing up to write.
• Tomorrow’s goal: I’m going to show up and write something. I don’t know how much I’ll write, but I’ll be there and I’ll see what happens.

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