Is It Required?

Have you ever noticed that if something is not required to happen, it often doesn't?

For example, back when I was taking piano lessons, I practiced around an hour every day.  It would be painfully obvious during my next lesson if I had not practiced all week.  It was required; therefore, it happened.

Fast forward to college.  Homework was required; therefore, it happened.  There were very few assignments that I turned in late or unfinished during my time at school.  It did not matter if I had to stay up until 3 o'clock in the morning and skip chapel the next day in order to finish.  There was a due date.  It was required; therefore, it happened.

During the same time, I was no longer taking piano lessons or involved in any ministries that involved the instrument.  I was fortunate to escape to one of campuses many pianos a couple times during a semester.  It was no longer required; therefore, it no longer happened.

Compare that to many of my classmates who were involved in one of the music groups.  They, with the same amount of other classwork, still found the needed time to practice their respective instruments.  It was required in addition to, and in some cases, as part of, their other homework.  It was required to happen; therefore, it did.

I believe this is why, after cranking out 50,000 words of a novel during November, I have barely written anything since.

During November, NaNoWriMo was in full swing.  I had committed myself to doing it; I had a deadline.  Granted, it was a deadline I doubted I would make at times, and one I might not have if it were not for my brother practically shoving me towards the finish line.  Still, for that month, writing became required.

After 50,000 words in one month, the approximately three scenes I've prodded and handful of characters I've minutely developed in the past three months seem rather pathetic.

So here's the deal:  I'm making writing a requirement again.

I'm not naive enough to think that a NaNo, 1,700-words-a-day pace is going to happen every month.  It's not.  Therefore, I have a much less lofty goal in mind:

Write every day.

Now, to keep myself from falling into the trap of anything qualifying as writing -- "I wrote a Facebook status today.  That counts." -- let me define what I mean by that.

Writing, in this case, means either a blog post or something that advances one of my story ideas.

To clarify further, under "something that advances one of my stories," I am including character descriptions, maps, timelines, and any other random story helps.  I am not going to give myself a daily, or even weekly, word count; I even plan on allowing myself Sundays off.  As long as I am doing something that moves the ideas from my brain to paper, I will be satisfied.  I don't care if a sentence, a page, a scene, or a chapter gets done that day, as long as I've written something.

Life gets busy.  However, I don't want the everyday grind, or my search for a full-time job, take me away from what I really want to do.  Ironically enough, authors who don't write, don't get published.  What's more, people who don't write, don't qualify as authors in the first place.

I will admit that this blog post is little more than insurance that I will actually do it instead of just think about doing it.  However, for those who read this, allow me to make one request:  Ask me how it's going.  Make sure I follow through.  Let me bore you will all the frustrations and details of the over-imaginative mind God gave me.  Who knows, you may actually find yourself wanting me to finish.