Every year for the past four years I have dedicated a month to performing a variation of the NaNoWriMo challenge, writing a blog post a day. Typically it is the month of March, so I end up with at least 31 posts as a result.
This year I decided to take advantage of the unique circumstance of having 10 days with little to do and being chained to a desk as an opportunity to condense my project. I was sure I could write 30 posts in 10 days.
Boy did I get off to a great start – 25 posts in six days. I watched my planning calendar getting pleasantly full with all of these new posts. My shoulders started to relax knowing that it would be a long time before I felt under the gun to get a post written. That, however, was the death knell to my progress: the creative well went dry.
I knew I was okay still. I could take a day or two off and still easily met my goal. But then it felt like the well was as dry as they are throughout my poor state. I’d hear cute things and not be inspired to write about them. Forced posts have a different feel – at least I can see the difference – so I wasn’t going to just plow through.
My saving grace was a show on Netflix: Wallander.
It created the need to write a comparative post (coming soon), and then my mind was back up and running again.
It’s amazing how a little nudge is enough to get the wheels moving again. Inertia is my friend (except when it isn’t).
And what triggered me to share this post now even though it took place in February? I still have a few of the posts left, which has been so helpful during my latest housing adventure.
Has anyone else ever ran out of gas on a goal right before the finish line? Or Did anyone else know the proper expression is “death knell” and not “death nail”?
Grown Up, Now What? 