My Writing Challenge - the conclusion

So this turned out to be the last day of what was originally a twenty-day writing challenge, to end on Thursday, the 18th. My goal was to write ten pages a day for twenty days, for a total of 200 pages. Alas, events conspired against me, so I missed some goals. However, a couple of other things have cropped up that make this a good time to stop. What did I end up with?

I wrote five pages this afternoon, and 929 words, so my final totals for the challenge are:

173 pages, 36,601 words.

If I'd done ten pages today, and ten the next two days, I would have made my goal. But I'm not disappointed. I'm delighted with 173 pages. That's more than enough to give me a good start. And it turns out I should stop here for two other reasons:

1. I need to do more research before I can continue. I need some practical terms and especially more information for the setting.

2. I got grabbed by another idea last night, and when I say grabbed, that's pretty much exactly what I mean. This idea came to me so strongly, I had to write notes. Of course, that happened just when I should have been going to bed. I made notes, then went to bed. Then turned on the light to make more notes. Shut off the light. Turned on the light to make more notes. Turned off the light. And again. And again. Heaven only knows what the neighbors might be thinking. But I honestly could not sleep for the scenes popping into my mind. I tell you, there is nothing more exciting about being a writer for me than this.

I think this experience is directly tied to the challenge. It got my imagination pumping and the ideas flowing. And that's a wonderful thing.



Here I am in Sirmione. I gather this is quite the tourist mecca in summer, but it wasn't very crowded when we were there, on a beautiful, sunny day in October.