Ten years ago today, I started a “word wars” chat room because I had a book on short deadline and needed people to prod me to get it done. I invited a bunch of my writer friends and hoped it would last six months. Today is its tenth anniversary. At least half a dozen of the people who started in the war room with me ten years ago are still there, and there are many, many others who joined a little later, or even quite recently, who are in there…
Six years ago today I started a writing chat room colloquially known as the War Room. Its purpose was to create a space where the writers I knew could log in and encourage one another to write. The idea is basically a chat room where you don’t chat, you just shut up and write, but in the presence of others, so that there’s some accountability. It’s a way of creating a work environment for a job that often expects you to get it done with nothing but your own self-discipline…
With the arrival of September and the start of (pre)school, I have gotten more work done in the past week than in the past three months combined. There’s a cafe in the same building as my son’s preschool, so I’ve been dropping him off, walking thirty meters to order a cup of berry tea, and sitting down to write for close to 3 hours. It’s a godsend. On the second morning, the barista said, dubiously, “Do you *like* the berry tea?” and I cheerfully admitted it was about the only…
The Word War Room is three years old today. Since I’d hoped, when I started it, that it would last six months, I’m very proud of it, and I’m still so happy at how many people log in and use it regularly to help them focus and get work done. If you want to join the war room as a participant, the above link tells you what it is and how it works. You have to join the Toonowrimo community to get the password, which there is a link to…
This week I have unintentionally but thoroughly proven that I will not get up at 5:30am to exercise. I will just barely get up at that time to write, but if my mental position is that I’m going to get up and exercise rather than that I’m going to get up and write…I stay in bed. The result is I haven’t exercised hardly at all *and* I’m behind on where I want to be with writing. Not massively behind, I still have a couple days to finish the next short…