Droughts and Deluges

“Was a long and dark December

From the rooftops I remember

There was snow

White snow”

- “Violet Hill” by Coldplay

Dianne K. Salerni of “In High Spirits” wrote a post entitled, Resolutions and Revelations

The post was a revelation for me. She wrote:

Last year, I joined a number of writers in Resolution 2011 – Write Every Day or Pay. For every day I didn’t write in the year of 2011, I would donate $1 to the charity of my choice.

When I first wrote seriously, I wrote more than I do now. Part of it was because my rough drafts were a BIG mess, so they took me forever-and-a-half to edit them. As time went on, there were a few droughts, but I always found water again. In October 2010, I began working full time AND taking a night class. Then I had a huge drought. I feared the drought would never leave. Would I be like the Anasazi—the author me would disappear forever?

But in 2011 from February to March, I found my groove. I finished in April. I edited. I submitted. At the end of the summer, I began something new. I also began working full time again. Another drought. More doubt. I wrote a trickle in November. I wrote a little stream near the end of December. Work would begin in days. My grad class would begin in a few weeks. Would I ever finish this draft?

Then I read Dianne’s post and decided I had to do something DRASTIC. I belong to a group called “Writers Support 4 U”. I wrote:

Anyone interested in having a writing challenge with me? For any day we don't write, we'll owe $1 to a charity. We see how we do after 3 months and make the total donation at that time. If it's motivated us, we can continue.

A few other writers were up to the challenge. Lydia Kang found the education and literacy

Build On

Ann joined too.

Robyn Campbell joined as well.

Susan Oloier is also part of the group.

Crystal Collier signed up too!

Our group is called “Write On to Build On”.

This is our mission:

This group was founded on 01/10/2012 to motivate us to write. Any day we don't write, we'll owe $1 to the charity Build On. We can check our totals every three months to see how we've done and make our donation. Besides posting here, we should keep a personal account of the days we don't write. Writing a rough draft or editing counts, as does working on short stories, vignettes, and flash fiction. Let's post and make a comment thread of our daily progress at the end of each day.

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I learned a lot about myself last year. When I present myself with a challenge, I MUST DO IT. When I decided to read 100 books last year, I read more than 100 books. Since I started the group, I’ve been writing up a snowstorm. Only 1 writing-free day. And now those 1-day dry spells will go to a good cause. I have a feeling I won’t have any more droughts.

I’ve become so prolific, when Old Kitty let me know about a Flash Fiction submissions being accepted for an upcoming eBook anthology to raise $ for victims of sexual assault/abuse (One in Four ), I was up for the challenge.

The flash fiction piece needed to be inspired by a song. I chose “Violet Hill” by Coldplay.

More about Caroline Smailes’s challenge is HERE

The authors who will be included in the anthology are HERE

Please visit Old Kitty and wish her hearty congratulations HERE

May your days be filled with a flurry of words!