Year of Insanity 2: The Sequel

Almost three years ago, I undertook what I lovingly called the Year of Insanity.  The goal, at the time, was a crazy one for me -- to go from the small number of pieces I was sporadically composing to writing an average of four pieces a month for an entire year, or forty-eight pieces total.  More than that, I wanted the pieces out there -- being played, sung, published.  The goal itself wasn't that "insane," but for me, at that time in my life, it was.

And the thing is, great things came about from that Year of Insanity.  It advanced my composing career more than almost anything else I've done, and improved both the speed at which I can compose, as well as the quality of pieces I'm now able to write.  It also did what all Big, Scary Goals do -- it showed me what's possible when I put my mind to it.

So, the time has come for another Year of Insanity, only this time, there will be differences.

Instead of being about music and composing, it will be about writing.

Instead of being about product, it will be about process.

Instead of being about final outcomes, it will be about consistency.

Here, then, my friends, are the details for the Year of Insanity 2: The Sequel:

1. Starting July 1, 2012 and ending June 30, 2013, I will write 1,000 words per day, every day.
2. The total words per day will be the sum of words written in a journal, as well as words written on specific projects of fiction and other "serious" writing.
3. Words written for The Creative and correspondence such as emails will not count toward the total.
4. If I miss my daily goal, I will still have a "second chance" to avoid failing the challenge: if, on the day following a day I miss the daily goal, I write the 1,000 words for that day plus twice the previous day's deficit, both days shall be considered as having met the daily goal.
5. If I fail in a "second chance" attempt, both that day and the day previous will be considered as having failed the challenge.

So, here is my thinking behind making this particular goal.  The thought of doing this sort, instead of a "here's my total for the year" sort of thing, came as I was reading books on writing and creativity.  The thing I see more than almost anything else is that the key to being successful is being consistent, doing it day in and day out, every single day.  I really don't have any sort of consistency when it comes to creating, and I wonder what my life might look like if I did. 

Writing is something I've enjoyed doing for a long time, but I am very hit and miss with it -- work at it gung-ho for three weeks straight, then abandon it for months at a time.  Working on consistency with this will, hopefully, start to give me consistency in other aspects of my life, as well.

The 1,000-word goal is not a difficult one to reach, and this is somewhat by design.  The daily average of words to type for National Novel Writing Month is 1,667, and I nearly made this my goal, but it's amazing how much time and effort that extra 667 words takes.  I wanted a goal I could reach every day that wouldn't involve me putting other aspects of my life on hold.  I wanted a goal that I could incorporate easily into my day, that would require a modest investment of time, and that wouldn't obliterate the time I need to do my composing and caring for my son.  While the goal may be easy, however, it's that simple fact of finding the time to do it that will make this goal difficult.

The total isn't really the point, however, but the fact that I need to do it every day.  That means Sundays.  That means birthdays.  That means holidays.  That means July 1, the very first day, which just happens to be my wedding anniversary.  Every day means every day.  Even during National Novel Writing Month, I haven't ever been able to do this.  While the 1,667 daily words of NaNoWriMo aren't that much more difficult, and only need to be done for thirty days, I tend to write in fits and starts -- 500 words this day, 300 the next, then a marathon day of 4,000 words to play catch-up.  Not this time.  Every day means every day.

However, knowing that I'm human and that, some days, I'm destined to fail (aren't we all?) I put in the "second chance" clause -- the chance to redeem myself, to dig myself out of the self-esteem hole I'll have created by not making the daily goal.  The fact that I have to write double the deficit from the previous day should serve as sufficient penalty to make sure I don't have to invoke the second chance clause too often.

Why only allow the second chance clause to go for the previous day?  Why not let it just keep racking up and racking up?  Experience -- I know that, when I get too far down into a hole, I despair of the whole thing and throw in the towel.  If I miss my goal two days in a row, that's a sign I need to stop, reset my thinking and my time management, and try again. 

It's also a measure of compassion -- we all will stumble in our attempts to make our goals.  It doesn't mean we're failures; it just means we need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try again.

Lastly, why am I not including writing here at The Creative as part of the goal?  Honestly, I probably could.  However, I want this goal to be above and beyond what I usually do in my life, to be an addition, not a re-branding.  I want the majority of the words I type to be fiction, or at least something that I can use in fiction later on.  My writing here at The Creative is all about figuring out what it means to be a creative-type, and in trying to help others along that path.  And, quite honestly, to use those words in this goal just, to me, would feel like cheating.

So, what projects will I work on?  I haven't decided yet, but I do know I have various novel ideas floating around in my head.  I have the remainder of The Sadonian Chronicles I'd like to work on.  I had an idea for a trilogy, and I was going to write the first book this month during Camp NaNoWriMo, though that didn't happen (which also prompted this every-day consistency sort of goal).  I have other story and series ideas running through my head, as well.  I just don't know where this will take me.

I am also going to count any journaling I do, since journaling isn't something I've been consistently doing.  I discovered a wonderful online journal website called Penzu.  You can write as much as you want for free, access it from any web browser, and it's totally private.  Best of all, it has a word count feature, which makes it really handy for something like this.  While some of what I put in the journal will be of the mundane sort of thing, I do tend, after a few hundred words, to turn toward my fiction ideas and trying to flesh them out and figure out where they're going.  Even the mundane things I put in there have the potential to prompt ideas and help my writing later on.

So, that's my goal.  Starting Sunday, it's 1,000 words a day, every day (though as the year progresses, I reserve the right to raise that goal if it seems appropriate).  I know of some other people who are considering big, crazy goals as well, and I invite them to join me on the quest.  I'll keep you updated in my Saturday Summaries, and just knowing you're out there watching gives me all the accountability I need.

Until then, happy goal-setting, and happy creating!  

(for the record, this post was just over 1,300 words)