Accountability

[This is another topic from my old blog that I've rewritten.]

A couple of years ago, I read Chris Baty’s No Plot? No Problem! In case you don’t know, he’s the founder of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which comes around every November. For some time, I’ve been intrigued by this idea, but have been scared to death to participate and actually commit to writing a novel in a month. I mean, what happens if you don’t finish -- do they shoot you? Surely, the earth will stop spinning and giant meteors will rain down on my head, right?

Which brings up another big problem of mine . . . fear. Of a lot of things. I’m sure fear will come up again, but back to accountability . . .

Baty suggests that a certain amount of fear can be effective motivation. And having someone to report your progress to can make you write -- so you don’t look like a loser and hang your head in shame when you fail to make any progress. Obviously, I’m paraphrasing.

For a while, I’d been thinking about asking a loved one to ask me every day how many words I’d written that day. I never did that. Mainly, because I was sure I’d regret it five seconds after I did it. My own internal nag is hard enough to silence; having an additional external nag would be even harder to ignore. Especially when it comes to one of my favorite pastimes . . . procrastination.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? To stop ignoring the nag and WRITE!

My first blog -- in which I'd planned to report my daily progress -- seemed a happy compromise. That didn't work out, because after two posts, I ignored that too.

However, this story does have a positive ending. It took a whole lot of kicking and screaming, but every week, I now submit a writing progress report to someone who shall remain nameless. I hated, absolutely despised, this idea at first, but I've been doing it for a month and a half, and I have to say -- it's the best thing I've ever done. I'm writing more and accomplishing more than I have in a long while, because I know I'm going to have to make that report at the end of the week and I don't want to look like a slug.

Anyway, back to my work in progress,

Ria ;)

www.riarestrepo.com