But at least I wrote SOMETHING. Around 10:30 at night, I went and visited my old roommate Steve who’s a film major. He was trying to finish a screenplay and get it in before midnight, so I decided to come and write with him in the same room. So then, got home, took a shower, had a bowl of cereal, called my parents while in the car on the way…and finally sat myself down writing at about 11:15. And then he sent in the screenplay at 11:45, and we ended up just hanging out and talking about stuff: life, girls, school, work, feelings and emotions, spiritual impressions, marriage, regrets, finances, Israel and the illegal settlements, Yasir Arafat and Black September (ok, I did most of the talking there–but at least I kept it short! And Steve WAS interested, otherwise I wouldn’t have talked about it!), classes in the coming semester, pirating illegal music, the singularity, the possibility of space travel in the Millenium…basically, all kinds of stuff. Man, friends are really awesome!
So, I’ve been thinking about the goals that I’ve set. Back when Aneeka inspired me to actually give this novel idea a shot, she said that I should set goals. I reviewed that conversation tonight, and was thinking about it. I’ve got a 500 word per night goal…but I don’t always keep it. Usually, I can just tag how many words I miss onto the next day, so if I miss one day, I’ll make it up by doing 1,000 the next. Or 1,500 if I miss two days in a row. But anything longer than that, and I just end up never making the goal at all.
So, I’ve been thinking that I should approach this writing with two goals: the first is to write 500 words per night, and the second goal is just to sit down each day and at least write something–even if it’s only a sentence or two. That way, I’m still doing what I’ve been doing, but if I can sit down for even ten minutes, I can at least feel like I’ve accomplished something. Also, if I can really get into the habit of writing daily, then that alone will probably do a lot to help me move from a hobby writer to a semi-professional one (about as semi as you can get…). We’ll see.
