100 Day Writing Challenge

Can I write for 100 days straight?

On first thoughts my reaction was, “I’ve been having trouble writing for 1 day straight, there is no chance in the world I’d crack 100”

But I then pushed aside the negativity and gave my head a wobble and in seconds this internal monologue argument ensued:

‘Rob, you like to write, right?’

‘Yes, I like to write, that’s why I’ve been doing it since I was fifteen years old.’

‘But you haven’t been doing it since you were 41 years old, and you barely did any writing at 40 years old either.’

‘I’ve been busy, helping other author’s realise their dream of becoming published authors.’

‘Yeah, true, you’ve helped them a bit, shown them the way, but it didn’t take up that much of your time so lets say that excuse is nil and void.’

‘I’ve been busy with the kids.’

‘Nope, not having that either, they have iPads, you are just the food maker, and the missus does most of that anyway.’

‘I’ve been planning.’

‘Again, staring out of a window dribbling isn’t planning, it’s staring out of a window dribbling.’

‘For fuc…I’ve been re-launching books.’

‘Two this year. One in January and one in March…and they were written years ago. I’m talking about writing.’

‘I’ve been plotting.’

‘Plotting?’

‘In my head?’

‘That’s what you’re going with? You’ve been plotting…in your head? I’m in your head, dick head, there has been none of that going on while I’ve been around. And plus, since when did you ever plot a book in your life? You fly by the seat of your pants…’

‘Not true, I plotted out…errr.’

‘You’ve been lazy. You claim you love to write but haven’t done all that much writing in the last two years.’

‘What about Nanowrimo last year? 86,000 words in 30 days.’

‘Yep, you did do that…last November after we had a similar conversation to this in October. And again this year, well done, you bagged over 100,000 words for this November’s National Novel Writing Month.

‘I wrote Miss Millionai…’

‘No, that was last year.’

‘What about my Peter Pan retelling?’

‘Ok, I’ll give you that one. How much have you written?’

‘Errr.’

‘Six chapters.’

‘What? Come on.’

‘Yep. In ten months you’ve managed six chapters. And they’re not particularly long chapters. A couple of thousand words each maybe?’

‘Maybe.’

‘So why aren’t you writing? You claim it’s the most fun you have. Why wouldn’t you want to be having the most fun?’

‘Because…errr…because shut up, thats why.’

‘You talk the big talk but won’t put the time in and the words down. That’s about right, isn’t it?’

‘No, not at all, I just…it’s hard.’

‘It’s hard because you haven’t been doing it. Once you start doing it again it’ll get a lot easier quickly. This is why you should do this 100 day writing challenge that’s coming up on January 1st.’

‘100 days? That’s a lot.’

‘Yeah, it’s around about a hundred days…give or take.’

‘But what will I write?’

‘You could start by finishing off a few books you’ve had collecting e-dust in your works in progress folder.’

‘I don’t like that folder.’

‘Why, because it reminds you how lazy you’re being?’

‘Exactly that reason, yes.’

‘Book 4 in your Lad-Lit series, you started that in 2019, you finished writing book 5 the following year but haven’t been able to release it because of book three’s cliffhanging ending. You could start off by finishing that, thus unlocking two new novels to release.’

‘Ok, what else?’

‘Book 4 in your Divine Series. You’ve been promising readers that fourth instalment for three years.’

‘Really? Has it been that long? What have I been doing?’

‘Fuck all! You keep starting these novels, getting excited about them, and then leaving them. Stop leaving them.’

‘You’re right, of course, I need to get my arse in gear.’

‘Promise?’

‘Yes, I promise, I’ll do this 100 day writing challenge.’

‘And you’ll see it through?’

‘Yes…I’ll see it…it’s quite a big one thought isn’t it. Like three and a bit Nanowrimos.’

‘Maths would suggest that, yes.’

‘And I need to write every day, what happens if I miss a day?’

‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The world will keep spinning, the icecaps will keep melting, and your novels will remain frozen, for that one day.’

‘What about if I miss two days?’

‘Why are you now planning days to miss? You should want to bloody write!’

‘If say I break my leg.’

‘Doing what exactly?’

‘Paragliding.’

‘Paragliding? You choose paragliding as the thing to break your leg? Rob, when was the last time you went paragliding?’

‘Never. I don’t even want to.’

‘So why the fuck will you break your leg paragliding?

‘It’s just a bit overwhelming, 100 days is a bit much.’

‘How about one day?’

‘A one day writing challenge? Yeah, that’s doable, that’s something I could get behind.’

‘So do that then. Do a one day writing challenge 100 days in a row, and if you break your leg paragliding then fuck it, have a day off, because you’ll be laid up in bed for the foreseeable afterwards, you’ll have plenty of time to catch up with the word count. In fact, I do hope you break your leg, then you might actually finish these bastard books!’

And so on the 1st of January I will embark upon the 100 day writing challenge, hosted by the amazing Suzie O’Connell from an online author forum called Wide for the Win.

One thing I’ve always struggled with is overwhelm, and it is my own fault, I start novels and then jump onto something else. Before I know it I’ve ten million beginnings of novels and I don’t know where to start to make a dent in any of them so I begin something new, and around and around we go forever creating and never finishing.

I’m looking forward to getting into a real writing routine which will start at 5am every morning (because I really have no excuse to do anything else at that ungodly hour). For two hours 5:30am — 7:30am (when the kids get up) I will write and focus only on the words. This is my productivity plan.

Reminiscent of previous November National Novel Writing Months (NaNoWriMo) where the goal is to write 50,000 words in a month, I’m taking to this new challenge with excitement. I have given myself a target of just 1000 words a day to write, but thats the thing, once I’m sat down in front of the laptop and hammering away, I won’t just write 1000 words, I’ll keep going until the chapter is at least finished and have often started the next chapter.

Brain does not lie. I have a lot of Works In Progress and my aim for this challenge is to put a dent in those W.I.Ps.

I’m coming to the end of book 4 in the Lad-Lit Series which carries on from book 3, Barman, and it is going to be called The Other Side. I have been getting a few chapters down of Evaluation, book 4 in my Divine Chronicles Series (I don’t what it is with me and book fours), and I’ve also been adding to my Dark Peter Pan Retelling which is going to open up a fantastical new world for me to continue writing. I’ve also got Time Keepers, the first book in a new time travel adventure series I’ve started and would like to continue with, Ouroboros, a stand alone novel I’m “working on”…and I recently wrote seven chapters of a new novel called A Dairy Of A Serial Killer.

There is certainly plenty to do and having this routine, of at least 1000 words a day would do well to get closer to finishing off some of these titles.

So to answer my the subtitle’s question, can I write for 100 days straight?…no, I can’t, but I believe I’d be able to write for 1 day straight 100 days in a row, and that’s a hell of a lot more productive than staring out of a window and dribbling.