You should pop over to the Sven Blog to check in!

Despite the holidays happening in the midst of the challenge, Sven was really successful for me on multiple levels. First and most important – It helped me to keep writing as my main focus. It made me accountable to myself because I had to think about it every day. And while I tend to do that anyway, it helped me keep on task when I’d have preferred to play scrabulous or check my email or whatever. And because of that, I was ahead on my task list and word count which played nicely into my sale to Berkley when I could turn in a finished manuscript early (yay!).

Wordcount wise – it was huge for me as well. I stopped counting after I hit 120K but I finished multiple books, wrote a few proposals and did a lot of revising and editing. I even finished one book from start to finish (instead of from chapter four to the end if I sold on a partial). I just got caught up in the challenge and it worked out nicely. Some days I did next to no new words because of all the editing I did, but other days, I just sailed through and made up for the low count days.

I’m going to keep the Sven Challenge going for myself because I think it’s been a big help to me. I hope it was for you all too.

We don’t all write at the same speed. We get blocked. We have outside demands on our lives so some days, some weeks, etc, are more productive than others wordcount wise. The important thing is – did you put writing where it needed to be in your life?

I’m old school about this writing gig. People approach it differently but I believe in doing what works for you. When you were tired did you try to get at least a page done or did you fall in front of your television? That’s a choice you make. It’s a choice I make. But it’s a choice nonetheless. You can talk about being a writer, or you can be a writer – again, that’s a choice. You don’t have to write every day if you simply can’t fit it into your schedule. But if you don’t write regularly, into all the time you can, *you’re* making the choice not to.

It isn’t easy. When a story is kicking my ass and my kids are having trouble in school and I have a four foot high pile of laundry to deal with and I haven’t had a moment to myself in weeks and I’m TIRED – I don’t want to do anything. I want to watch television and veg. And sometimes I do, but 9 times out of 10 I make myself get back in that chair and 9 times out of 10 I’m glad I did.