The Good Patrons of 750 Words

3 cups

I joined 750words.com two weeks before I started writing here. I’ve gone around calling myself a writer, but oh dear, I wasn’t writing every day or anything like every day. I meant to be writing, of course, but I let everything else chip away at my days and next thing I’d know, poof, there went another week. Or usually more. My journal at night was the only thing getting attention, but that’s more like a record of events for me. It’s not nothing, but I needed a lot more practice than a journal page that wasn’t even legible when I was writing while tired or having come home from a party. When it was time for my writer’s group (that I co-founded, geez) to meet every third Tuesday, I’d hustle to get something done. I tried assignments, exercises, discipline, motivation; you know the drill.

I ran across 750words.com at the suggestion of a website I sorta follow. I poked around and thought Hey, I’ll sign up for the monthly challenge, I’ll start on October 1, I promise! Sure, my other voice said. Sure, you will.

But I did it and I kept doing it. Every single day. It wasn’t that hard. In fact, it was easy and I enjoyed it and a bit of good writing started coming out of it. Then close to the end of the month when I saw to my surprise that it’d stuck, I signed up for the November monthly challenge. And then I thought, Goodness me, it’s time to start my memoir! and signed up for NaNo WriMo.

Who’d a thunk it? Seven days into November and I’m 14K words into my 50K NaNo goal. I’m loving this. It’s been just thirty-eight days since I began, but you know what? NOW, I’m a writer. And my writing is getting better a lot more quickly than it was when I was starting rusty every time and tortured knowing that what was in my head/heart/soul/gut was still a universe away from the page in front of me.

So this, y’all. This.