Stephanie writes young adult contemporary novels and is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com. Her novels include The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series (Revell) and The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet (Playlist). You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and check out samples of her work on her author website.
My daughter started kindergarten a week ago. After five-and-a-half years of not really needing to be anywhere before 9:30am, it was a big adjustment to have to get four people dressed, fed, and out of the house everyday by 7:50.
Before her first day, I had been in the habit of working until 10 or 10:30 in the evening, having a popcorn/Daily Show date with my husband, and dozing off sometime around midnight. But with an alarm going off every morning at 6:30, this was impossible for me to sustain. I'm a girl who needs sleep, and I had to figure out what I was going to cut from my evening routine so that I could be a functioning human being during the day.
When we add something to our daily schedule, we almost always have to stop doing something else. I recently heard about the idea of creating Stop and Start lists. If you're trying to add a new habit or a new activity to your life, you can help yourself ahead of time by deciding what you're going to stop doing to make time and space for this new thing. If you're wanting to eat healthier, for example, you might put on your stop list that you are going to stop buying cookies and chips and start buying fruits and vegetables.
Today the 100 words for 100 days challenge starts. If you're not already in the habit of writing on a daily basis, you will probably have to stop or shorten another activity in your life to make time for this. Is there anything you've stopped doing (or shortened) to make space for writing?
There's still time to get signed up for the 100 words for 100 days challenge, but this is the last day to do so. You can find the form here.
I've sent out an email to all the participants I have on my list. Some of those emails have been returned to me, so if you haven't received an email with details about the writing challenge, email me now and let me know.
Also, if you want to be part of a community as you forge ahead in the 100 for 100 challenge, you can do so on the Go Teen Writers email loop:
Happy writing everyone!
There's also a GTW community on google + for those of you who have it! Join guys! :)
ReplyDeletereally? must. check. out. THANK YOU HANNAH J!!!
DeleteI think I found it. Is it just GTW?
DeleteYes, Jonathan, it is. I hope that you join!
DeleteI joined! :)
DeleteI can't find it on Google+. What's the address?
DeleteMy phone won't let me post a link but if you search communities for "GTW" you should be able to find it. It's a private community so you have to request to join but I'm sure you will be accepted with no problems :)
DeleteJust had a better idea. I shared it with you. Should come up in your notifications now :)
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ReplyDeleteWhat have I stopped to make room for writing!?!? Well, uhh, sleep! :p But, THANK GOODNESS, i dont yawn as much! i've done my goal for today! :D 1,030 words!!!! :D Yeah! :)
ReplyDeleteOk, just went and checked back to see if i sis have 1,030 words it ends up i had 1,050 words. :p
Tw
I just joined- my novel has been going very, very slowly right now and I could definitely use a little incentive. :)
ReplyDeleteYay! Today is the start of the 100 for 100 challenge!
ReplyDeleteWhen I got more into my writing, I had to let go of soccer. It was a matter of which one would I not regret giving up. Soccer got chopped.
ReplyDeleteI'm so busy. Lol. I'm not sure what I could give up. College? No. Church? No. FCA? No. Work (where I COULD write, but usually do my homework)? No. Homework? Hey! Wait... No. :/
ReplyDeleteHa! Wouldn't that be nice?
DeleteJust give up collage, Ashley!!
DeleteHahaha, that made me laugh, Ashley! XD
Delete~Koren
This is going to sound *reeeealllyy* lame, but in order to write I have to get myself to sit down at the computer and stop wandering around the house aimlessly. :)
ReplyDeleteYay! 100 for 100!
Haha! I actually do that too. :D
DeleteIf that's lame, then I am also lame.. Lol.
DeleteMe too! I tell myself it's not wandering... it's... creative exploring.
DeleteI should use that excuse sometime, Katelyn... ;)
DeleteI used to get up early in order to write but lately I have been having problems with my stomach and can't sleep at night which means I tend to sleep in. I try and write then but I can't always focus. I also write during my lunch break or in the evening after school. I am soooo excited for the 100 for 100 I can't wait to make some serious progress on my WIP!
ReplyDeleteSorry you're having stomach troubles :(
DeleteDo words I write while plotting count for the 100/4/100?
ReplyDeleteIf it's for your 100 for 100 manuscript, yes!
DeleteWe can use our plotting words?!?! Awesome!!!
DeleteOh good. I was getting a little worried. :)
DeleteWell....I kind of out writing aside for painting, now, I'm trying to find a balance. I'm hoping 100-4-100 will help, I can write a hundred words a day & still have time to paint :)
ReplyDeleteI just wrote the first 218 words for 100/4/100! And guess what? I'm writing in English this time! Let's see if I'm able to do that...;-)
ReplyDeleteAnd about that list...well, I don't know really. I'm working for a few days now and it makes me sit less behind my computer. But's not that bad, I suppose :P
Arende (sorry for not doing this with my Google-account, but my pc doesn't like blogger anymore...:()
Good luck to everyone doing the 100 for 100 this time! I had been thinking about it, but decided not to eventually as I'm starting on my graduation year next week. But unofficially I'll participate bit by bit either way ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, I actually managed to come up with a story idea in time. I just started so I only have 135 words of my new novel written. I'm hoping for maybe 500 at the end of the day. I'll probably just write 200 and go play animal crossing.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I have an idea. I was stuck between this idea and another so I'm using this idea mixed with the other idea. But I think it will end up being a series if I mix the other idea so I don't know.
As for what I stopped doing, I stopped procastinating. Well, not really. Kind of. I also stopped watching as much tv to make room for writing.
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DeleteSo excited for the 100 4 100 challenge to start today!
ReplyDeleteI have to make myself spend less time reading in order to have writing time. That's one of the biggest things for me. Now that school's back in, I have to juggle reading and writing for my classes, as well as my other writing. But thankfully, I have some really great classes...we're reading the Hunger Games in one of them ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I'm skipping out on the 100 for 100 Challenge. I love, love, love doing it, but I'll be focusing on school-related writing and revising a manuscript. I volunteer to be everyone's cheerleader :D
I stopped sleeping in and started getting up early again. That's pretty much it for my stop and start list. :P
ReplyDeleteI think the one thing I like best about this contest is that it's so stress-free. 100 words is nothing, especially compared to NaNoWriMo. It's almost like a writing break--except you're still writing, possibly more than you normally write each day.
ReplyDeleteI finished my word count for today--210. I wasn't planning to go very far over a hundred, but then I didn't want to stop quite so soon. . . .
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting the 100-4-100. My book won't last another 10,000 words, so this is going to be an amazing push in the direction of finishing it this year.
yeah, hannah! whoo! :D you can do it! :) what's ur book on???
DeleteYou can do it Hannah! I'm trying to finish a manuscript as well by the end of this year. You can do it!
DeleteAw, thanks, guys!
DeleteTW: Haha, I don't give that information out readily ;) But it's a fantasy.
Hannah: Awesome!!! Good luck!
I finished my word count for yesterday! 783 words!!!!!! So excited!!! It's ok if we write that much more than 100 a day, right??
ReplyDeleteI hope Stephanie & Jill don't mind if I answer :) It's fine to write as much as you want!
DeleteQ: For the Grace days. If we are planning a one week vacation in October, can we just save all our grace days up for that and write every day until it?
ReplyDeleteI think you have one grace week per challenge if you look at the original post....
DeleteSorry I'm so late in responding to this! I had to "go dark" while I worked on edits. Yes, you get one "grace week" per challenge. SO I would save it for your vacation time. If you DO write during your vacation - even if it's not 700 words - you can still count that.
DeleteBoth days so far I was at a point in my manuscript where I just didn't think I could write any more and thought I was going to be stuck with writer's block, regardless of what I had in my outline. But both days I sat down to write 100 words (thinking I could hopefully come up with something), and both days I've come out with more than 800! :)
ReplyDeleteLOVE hearing stories like this, Kristin. Thanks for sharing!
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