I have about a billion-ty words to write to fix what I broke in Incubus. So, I am taking Weronika up on her challenge. Of course, I don’t write on Sundays, and it is 7:30 Friday night, but I am still shooting for 10K this weekend. Which means I better get to work.

Wish me luck!

The idea of the challenge is to have a very doable goal every day. A goal of one page – no more, no less – is one that we all can tackle (some days I will write more, but it will not be my goal to do so). The point is to do it every day. And, for me at least, to not get upset on days where I don’t write a lot. A page is a solid bit of writing for one day.

More than forty writers signed up to participate in Weronika’s challenge. We will be using the twitter hashtag #padc to track our progress, and Weronika will keep a list of the bloggers who are participating here. Personally, I will be updating my progress each day at the end of this post.

And so we begin Day One. Wish me luck!

ETA (6/2/2010): Yeah…so I am bad at updating, aren’t I. Page-a-Day Challenge is going okay. I am squeaking by every day. Life got really, really hectic right when this started, but I can still manage a measly page each day!

At least, it used to not be uncommon. I got so used to writing fast and getting so many words out so quickly that I let myself believe that is the way it has to be. When I have an off day where the words come at more of a trickle than a rush, I  get increasingly frustrated. Oftentimes, I stop writing, figuring I will make up the measly bit of lost words in one great rush later on.

Lately, however, life has gotten busier and busier (I love the things that are making my busier–mostly cake making , but they do take away from writing time), and so I can’t sit down for long periods of time often. This means those amazing 3,000 word rushes are becoming fewer and further between. It is still great to make that much progress in one go, but I just can’t depend on that. Not if I actually want to get novels written, I can’t.

I spent the last couple days re-evaluating my writing habits, and I have come to a conclusion: I need to get this ideal of writing eleventy-billion words at a time out of my head. I can write a novel a couple hundred words at a time just as well as I can a few thousand words at a time (actually, probably better since I am generally a better writer when I write slower).

So, starting today I am going to embrace whatever writing time I can get and appreciate the words I get out, no matter how few they are. I am done stressing if I only get a few hundred words done in session. I am done getting grumpy if writing doesn’t come as quickly as it used to. I am going back to enjoying every minute of it!

Because, really, why am I doing this if not to enjoy it?

EDITED TO ADD:

I have been planning this post for a couple days now, which is why I found it really awesome that Weronika posted on the same thing this morning! She said a lot of the same things I did, just, yanno, more intelligently (and with actual numbers for back-up). And then–and here’s where it gets fun!–she posted a challenge.

Weronika’s challenge is to have a goal of writing one page a day–no more. None of this 1,000 words a day or 1,500 words or 2,000 words a day goal-age (all of which I have done in the past). Just one page. Sure, there will be many days when I write more than that, but having a one page goal will help me to not beat myself up if I only get 300 words written that day (300 words is slightly more than your average page ).

The challenge officially runs May 15th-June 15th, but I am going to start early. Starting next Monday, I am committing myself to writing at least one page a day. I am also committing myself to no self-deprecation and no grumpiness if I only get one page a day. I don’t need to do more than that–after all, slow and steady wins the race.

Um, SQUEE!

I am getting this book whether I win it or not, but getting a book you want for free is always a great thing.

Other fabulous prizes include blog interviews, a second free book (of the winner’s choosing), and partial manuscript critiques (or something else for those non-writers out there).

This is a great contest, guys. Head over and enter now.