A Milestone

 Today marks a special day in my writing journey.  

Today is the 500th day in a row that I've written either fiction or creative non-fiction (column is one example).

To my knowledge, this is the longest writing streak I've ever maintained.  It has meant writing when I was tired, writing when I was grieving, writing when I wasn't feeling well, and even writing when I just plain didn't feel like it.

I've written on vacation.  I've written well past midnight some days.  I've written during the day.  I've written when I wasn't sure what the story I started would be about.  I've written when other things tried to tempt me away from the keyboard.

Currently my minimum word count for a day is 500 words.  Beginning next year I plan to up that to 750 words.  Later in 2022 my goal is 1000 words a day.  Baby steps.  But I'm getting there.

Along with this I've been writing a short story a week.  I'm up to 45 short stories done - the goal is 52, or one year's worth.  Seven to go.  I think I might pull it off.

But I admit I'm proud of that 500.  It represents a lot of words.  A lot of exercising my creative brain.  And while it hasn't always been easy, it's been fun.  And I've learned a lot from it.

So now?  Let's aim for 600.  Wish me luck.

Wow. It's Been Too Long

 It's been a while since I posted.  A lot as gone on.  Some good, some bad.  2020 was definitely one of those years.  

And here we are with over half of 2021 gone.  I need to make this blog more of a priority.  I hope you all would appreciate that.

So...here's some writing news to share.

1. On June 29th, 2020, I decided I would try to write every day.  Some days it was hard to pull that off (one day I only managed 69 words).  But I kept up with it, and last month passed the one-year anniversary of writing every day.  

The benefit of a streak is it presses you to keep it up the longer it gets.  Not sure how long this will last, but I wouldn't be against several years.

2. At the beginning of 2021, I started the challenge of writing a short story a week for a year.  Last Sunday I finished story #30.  

This is harder than writing every day.  Some weeks I had a real problem coming up with a story.  There have been Sundays I've burned the midnight oil to finish.  And I'm sure some of these stories are better than others.  But I haven't given up.  I'm more than halfway done.  And I'm determined to pull it off.

3. Five of the short stories I wrote were put into a short story collection titled FIVE FEMALE GUMSHOES.  The collection contains five stories, each featuring a female private investigator.  

I'm pleased with this collection.  If you want an ebook, here's a link to check out: https://books2read.com/u/31KPX7

And here's a peek at the cover...

I'll let you know when it's available in print.  That means I'll be posting again (hopefully) soon.  Thanks for your patience!