The Next Impossible Thing

It seems impossible, doesn't it?  50,000 words in 30 days.  Where will I find the time? What will I do when I don't have any good ideas? Who will clean the kitchen?  How will I do this when I have work, kids, dogs, friends, a house, company coming for Thanksgiving, sick parents, a cold?

But like all impossible things, this impossible thing begins with the next right step.  Tomorrow, I will sit down and write.  I have four hours blocked out on my calendar.  I could go shopping (in Thailand, where I am currently for work, they do love to shop).  I could go work out (the pool is lovely). I could have dinner with friends.  But I have blocked out 4 pm to 8 pm for writing.  I will put my butt in the chair.  I will put words on the page.

They may not be good words.  But it's a draft, so that doesn't matter.

I will aim to write 4,000 words tomorrow.  Why twice the amount I need to? Because I know myself.  I like to win, and I like to have a little space for the days when the writing is difficult.  The beginning is easy.  Four thousand words is cake at the start.  But no matter how many words I end up with, I will sit, butt in chair (for at least 45 minutes out of each hour, I use the Pomodoro method), and I will write.

And then on Sunday, Nov. 2,  I will do the same thing.  On my calendar, from now until Nov. 9 when I will spend 24 hours traveling home from Thailand, I have marked out at least 1 1/2 hours each day for writing.  There's time for yoga, time for the full-time work I do when I'm traveling.  Time for a little more shopping, a little more food, but there is time, every day, for writing.

I don't have to find the time.  I've already made time.  Since I've done this for four years, I know I can do it.  It still seems impossible, even though I already spend at least 1 1/2 hours a day writing nearly every day.

But I have already done so many things this year that have seemed impossible.  50,000 words in November is just one more impossible thing to add to my list.

I hope you'll join me in doing the impossible.  Find encouragement and support at www.nanowrimo.org and become my buddy (I'm gravllo).  Join me and my writing tribe at Yellow Springs Write In's (see the calendar in Ohio: Elsewhere). Let's see what's possible.