500 Words – Day 10 – The Dirtbag

500-10

Wow 10 days in a row!! After this post is done, I’ve now written over 5000 words! That’s a major achievement from me, so today I’m writing about the things I’ve learnt so far:

Consistency

This is the reason I decided to take on this challenge! To become more consistent and hence become a better writer. I can definitely see changes already. My writing may not be any better but it’s definitely coming out of my head a lot easier. On my Day 9 post, I literally wrote the whole thing in less than 25 minutes. It blew me away how quick I got it done.

What’s noticeable is the feeling of satisfaction knowing that I’ve created a piece of work every time I hit that ‘Publish’ button. I didn’t think this would have such an effect on me, but it’s without a doubt the number one thing that keeps me going. Which leads me to the next point…

It’s hard

Man is it hard sometimes. I’ve been doing my writing at night after the kids have gone to bed and I’ve finished work for my part-time job. Sometimes I really don’t feel like doing it, but I’ve managed to conjure up something every night. I’m pretty good at scheduling myself, but the real problem comes when that schedule is thrown out of whack by the kids not going to sleep, or I get home late from my day job or we go our for dinner.

As much as I don’t like to, I’ve committed to this, so I usually have to just stay up later. Now please be clear, I value sleep, not because I need a lot of it but because I know it has such a positive effect on my wellbeing. But again, I’ve committed to this challenge, and I’m going to see it through.

Kill Interruptions

When I can get alone, I aim to use that time to the maximum.

A few days ago, I was organising a few things with my weekend football team, replying to some text messages. It took me almost an hour to write a post, double the time it usually does. It was atrocious behaviour on my part.

So now, I don’t have my phone sitting next to me, I quit all my social media and put Desk into full-screen mode. I put on some headphones and get in the zone by listening to something like Noisli.

The best solution would be for me to have a separate room that I can retreat to, but that’s not a viable option in our two bedroom apartment! Remember, as soon as something kicks you out of that concentration zone, it takes 20 minutes to get back into that rhythm! Find your alone zone!

Don’t care about others

Jeff Goins, the creator of this challenge said it best.

You’re not that special.

It’s so true. I used to think that there’s going to be thousands of people reading my first ever blog post. Not true. I wanted to have an amazing site and for it all to just happen.

But here’s my wake up call – I haven’t had more than three readers on my last six posts, and I’m pretty sure one of them was my mum!

This is the perfect time for me to hone my craft, and get all the bad stuff out of the way before anyone notices it! This is the time to be crap!