We’re almost finished.

Are you lagging, or picking up steam? I find I really push toward the end of these challenges, trying to make up for days where my productivity wasn’t so stellar. Plus I like to finish on a high note rather than just giving up or ending with some really bad numbers.

So on this last week of our writing challenge, give it a little push so you can triumph at the end. Even if you’ve had nothing but dreck the entire time, you can still get a lot done in a week.

Start now. You’d be amazed what you can accomplish in a short period of time.

If you’re lagging, give yourself a last minute push.

And if you’re writing steadily, keep going.

What do you do when you don’t want to write? When you’re having an “I don’t feel like it” day. We all have them. When you’re whiny, not in the mood, you want to watch television, or go shopping, or go outside, or you’d rather do anything else other than write.

It’s not like taking a day off work, when you can find someone to fill in for you, someone to pick up the slack until you get back to things.

If you don’t write your book, who else is going to do it? This is writing, it’s a solitary endeavor. If you don’t do the work, it doesn’t get done.

We don’t get to take a day off and assign our writing tasks to someone else. If we don’t write, the writing doesn’t get done. If we’re not in the mood and decide we’re just not going to write today, then we get behind.

Who’s going to finish your book if not you? The answer is no one. Only you can do it.

Get to work

I’m not much for taking days off from writing. Especially with my current schedule, which is write one book, then another, then another, then…well, you get the picture. I’ve been writing pretty much nonstop for the past three years. I do love my job. But this year, since the first of the year, has been rather…intense. I have a lot of books to write in a very short period of time. And on top of writing new books, there are revisions and copyedits and galleys coming in on other books that I’ve already written, so I have to make time to do those in between making deadlines on new books. Yikes!

So in the past two weeks, I was on the last few chapters of a book that had really drained me. At the same time, galleys arrived for another book and I had a limited amount of time to go through those. Which meant I had to write and do galleys at the same time. Hey, we do what we have to do, right? I managed both projects and got the galleys off to my publisher, then finished writing the book on schedule. No sooner had I finished the book then revisions on another book arrived via Fedex. (Are you sensing my no-time-to-breathe scenario here?).

I took all last week to do those revisions, and as soon as I got those out the door, I did something unheard of for me–I took a day off. I was utterly exhausted and knew I just didn’t have it in me to dive into the next book yet. So I played on the internet, I read, I watched television. In general, I vegged. It was wonderful. And I needed it.

Sometimes we push ourselves so hard we run the risk of burning ourselves out. Really not good for the muse or for our productivity. I know we have goals and we want to produce every day. But I also think it’s okay to allow ourselves a day, or even two, to regroup, to rest the muse, to let our minds wander.

The day off was great for me. I’m ready to dig into my next book with new enthusiasm.

And I can breathe again.

We’re harder on ourselves than anyone can ever be on us. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t make a goal one day, or one week. And once in awhile, take a day off and just let your mind rest. You might be amazed how creative and productive you’ll become when you get back to writing again.

Always be kind to yourself. It’s something I have to remind myself of often.

‘I don’t believe in writers’ block. Plumbers don’t get plumbers’ block. Why should writing be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working.’

Philip Pullman

NOTE: Sven is moving servers over the weekend. It’s possible any comments you make will be lost, but things will be back to normal for Wednesday’s check-in.

Do you compare yourself to others? To their progress, to their success? It may be motivating, but it may also be defeating. If you see on this blog that someone did 10,000 words in a week and you did 100, do you give up?

Don’t do that.

You can’t compare yourself to everyone else. You can only compare yourself to…yourself. I know it’s hard because I do it myself sometimes. We writers can be very competitive. That’s one of the best things about this 70 day writing challenge. But you have to walk a careful line between allowing this challenge to motivate you to succeed, and letting it beat you into failure.

I write full time. My children are grown and gone. I have no one to answer to except my husband and myself, and he does a damn fine job of taking care of himself and doesn’t need me to do things for him. If someone who works a full time job and has small children at home to take care of tries to compare themselves to me, how defeating is that? I have 15 hours a day to write. If you have to eek out an hour a day to even attempt to write, don’t compare your output to mine.

Don’t compare yourself to anyone. Set your own goals because only you know what you’re capable of doing. Then push yourself to achieve those goals. Don’t worry what everyone else is doing. Succeed or fail at your own goals, no one else’s.

I had this great post I was going to do today on fear of success and fear of failure, and why it stymies writers into progressing on their books.

But New York Times Bestselling Author Allison Brennan put up a post on the Murder She Writes blog last week, and said it brilliantly. I really have nothing to add, so I’ll send you there to read it. Honestly, it’s all true. We are our own worst enemies. Don’t let your fears stop you.

Just write the damn book.

You can’t say, I won’t write today because that excuse will extend into several days, then several months, then… you are not a writer anymore, just someone who dreams about being a writer.
Dorothy C. Fontana

I love this quote, because it’s so true. When you’re a writer, you can’t stray too far or too many days away from your writing, otherwise you lose touch with it. And the farther away you get, the more difficult it is to get back. Or should I say…the easier it becomes to stay away? Writers are the best at making excuses for not writing. We’re creative sorts, after all. We make creative excuses for not doing that which we claim to love to do. And why is that?

Because it’s damn hard. And sometimes damn hard makes us run like hell.

As we get to the home stretch and start to wind up the 70 Days of Sweat, don’t lose sight of that which you love. You became a writer because it burns in your soul. Because this is what you love to do. Okay, some of you are in it for the money, but take it from me and from a lot of us who are in the know. Unless you’re Nora (I adore you, Nora! ), you aren’t gonna get rich at this. Do it because you love it, do it because you have to, because the words scream inside you to get out. Do it because this is who you are.

Don’t lose sight of why you became a writer. Have goals, ambitions, a career plan for success. Stick to it and don’t let anyone, including your own self doubts, make you deviate from what you love.

Keep writing. Every day.

So how do you stay motivated during holiday season to write or revise or whereever you are in your current writing project?

My motivation is simple – I have a contracted deadline and if I don’t make that deadline, I’m toast. But even without it, I’m always motivated to write. Writing is a distraction from the madness. It’s my time. It’s away from shopping, wrapping, thinking about who’s house we need to go to at any given time. I don’t have to think about Christmas cookies or baking or what gift I haven’t bought yet.

The holidays bombard us with stimuli. Some of it’s awesome, but too much of it makes me twitch. Writing can sometimes be frenetic, but it can also calm me, because it’s my normal routine. And this time I year, I crave normal like nobody’s business. Besides, if I get too far outside my routine, it’s so damn hard to get back into it. And there are times when I’m stressed and busy and I think I can’t possibly pile one more thing onto my holiday agenda, that I just know I’ll never be able to write.

But you know what? I do find time. This is my job. I don’t take the month of December off just because it’s the holidays. If I worked at a bank or anywhere else, I wouldn’t get to take the month off, either. Writers, whether you tackle that career full time or part time, also need to remember that.

Don’t forget your writing “job” during December. You may find it the most calming, stress free thing you do all month.

The act of writing
bears something in common
with the act of love.

The writer,
at this most productive moment,
just flows.

He gives of that which is uniquely himself,
he makes himself naked.
Recording his nakedness in the written word.

Herein lies some of the terror
which frequently
freezes a writer.

Sidney M. Jourard

I found this quote and really loved it, because it describes so beautifully that which paralyzes so many of us during our writing journeys—that naked fear of not being good enough, of not being as good a writer as Writer X, Writer Y, Writer Z, blah blah blah.

Unless you’re utterly narcissistic, there’s no harsher critic than you of your own work. But you have to let go of the fear of failure (or quite possibly, the fear of success, which is another topic for another day).

Write because you love it, because it’s burning inside you to be free. Write because you were born to do this, because if you don’t you’ll explode.

Write because its who you are.

And write naked. Let everyone see the true writer in you.

No, I don’t mean a scene in your book. I mean where do you write? Is it in an office with the door closed and the world shut out, or is in the midst of chaos?

Do you have to have a specific place to write—do you need quiet, the Ipod plugged in to block out extraneous background noise, or does it matter at all what’s going on around you?

I write in the dining room. I actually have a bedroom in the house that’s set up in my office, but I got lonely in there. The dining room has two big windows that look out into the backyard and it’s brighter in that room than in any other. I like it there. *grin*

Typically I write during the day when my husband is at work. I can’t write to music (otherwise Nickelback’s lyrics would appear in the midst of my books..heh.) No television on, either, because I’m easily distracted. So for the past few years I’ve gotten used to writing in total silence. It works well for me.

Two months ago my son and his family (including their 4 year old daughter) moved to Oklahoma from California, and while they’ve been looking to buy a house they’ve been staying with us. That’s two adults and one child occupying my “office” on a daily basis, since my son also works at home. Fortunately, my granddaughter goes to daycare during the day so that’s helped, but it’s really thrown my writing nirvana for a curve. I’ve had to get used to noise and distraction.

But I’ve learned to adapt. Why? Because I’m a writer, and writing is what I do. I don’t make excuses for not getting the job done and whether I’m alone, sitting in front of the television, or surrounded by people, I write. This is my career. If bulldozers started digging up my yard, I’d still write. If the dogs bark all day long, I still write. If my husband has a day off work, I still write. It’s my job. I do it, no matter what. Sometimes it’s not easy, but I get it done.

My advice to you is not let anything sidetrack you. If your writing world comes under attack, take charge of it. Relocate to a coffee shop, plug in the headphones, demand that you have your quiet time to write. Or just…hide out. Do whatever it takes—this is your job. It’s your career.

It’s important.