I got started in the challenge a few years ago thanks to one of my writing buddies, Syd. She pushes me hard, and makes me fight for my story lines, and she makes accountable. Thanks Syd. I love you.
The challenge, to write a 50 K novel in a month teaches a great lesson in discipline. Sometimes it's hard to sit down and let the words flow. Some of us have lives that don't conform to the face of a clock. There' s no punch in here and out there. For me, as the primary caregiver to a disabled husband, I'm on flex time. I have several hours most mornings before he's up. I use that time to research, and create. I also use that time to do things like the monthly bills and correspondences. It's not always easy, there are days, even during the challenge when I have to take care of his needs first. That's life. No excuses, just facts.
But the moments when the words are going, and you can't stop to even think, these are golden.
This novel more or less wrote itself, I was only a conduit. It's a work of fiction, sure, but somewhere in the story... it felt like I had plugged into someone's memories.... that they were shared with me, and enriched my experience.
So to the Muse who inspired the dream that caused me to write this story instead of the one I'd planned and worked three months on research on.... Thanks for the shared memory.