The Realm of Magic

If you take any activity, any art, any discipline, any skill - take it and push it as far as it will go, push it beyond, where it has ever been before, push it to the widest edge of edges, then you force it into the realm of magic ~ Tom Robbins

When we push ourselves to our limits, that's where the magic happens.  I started pushing myself back in February.  Since that time, not only have I been consistent with my blog posts but also consistently writing 5000 words per week.

I pushed myself around two disciplines that were causing me stress.  The first discipline was the writing of my novel.  I figured out that my barrier to moving forward was not knowing where the story was going.  I had a brainstorming session and outlined the rest of the novel.  Once I had that in place, the writing came easy.  I wrote 5000 that week.  When I realized I had accomplished that, I did it again the next week.  Ever since then, my weekly writing goal has been 5000 words per week.

The other discipline I pushed myself in was regular blogging.  Yes, I understood that as a new writer I need to write every day.  Yes, I understood that the blog is supposed help develop a platform of followers.  But coming up with a blog topic and doing the post every day wasn't working for me.  In fact, it was stressing me out so bad some days I wasn't even working on the novel. 

So I created a schedule I could work with.  I post four days a week and have created a schedule for writing those posts, much like a "deadline" for my self.  I also figured out cool tools on my blog like scheduling the blogs entries to post on specific days and times. As soon as I'm finished writing the entry, I load it on the blog and schedule the post.  I have made more blog entries in five months than all of last year.  I am on track to have more blog entries this year than all of the last two years.

So now that I'm prepared with better outlines and work schedules, my writing is pushing ahead at warp speed.  My second novel is over 80,000 words and the first draft is on track to be finished within about four weeks. 

I hope you're keeping cool this weekend!