Discipline’s Challenge

I need to enroll myself in a type of to-do list boot camp.

Somewhere between the beginning of June and now, I lost track of my forward motion. My writing has fallen and can’t get up. My reading/reviewing is nil. My schoolwork is a month behind (thank goodness for the extension). My blog hasn’t had an update in a couple weeks… and the list could go on.

Now I begin the trek back to daily activities:

1. Writing daily.
2. Reading.
3. Scene outlining.
4. Blog reading/commenting.
5. Book reviewing.

For someone more comfortable with two to-do items on her plate, this list of five seems daunting and could usher me into procrastination. That is where the discipline challenge comes in. When the temptation is to turn from my waiting work and do something else (that isn’t on the list), I will challenge myself to move forward instead of away.

In fact, I am writing this blog article instead of doing reading for my schoolwork. Whether this is a fail or not I haven’t decided, but I will view it as a way to get myself back on track for daily writing. Maybe even use the blog articles as a way to persuade myself into doing what I know needs to be done.

Discipline and follow-through is such a necessity for a writer! More than anything, I need to keep myself from growing too comfortable with the act of putting things off. So, what is on my to-do list? Should I even call it that? Even the name, to-do list, causes me to grimace and despair. To push back. To almost internally whine at the expectation.

This morning I wrote my Christian Writers blog chain post scheduled for July 26th. It felt good to want to write the article, and so I need to find that motivation as I approach the final three assignments for my schoolwork. Perhaps the best thing is to belt all three out before beginning the three book reviews due next month?

And, unfortunately, it also means pushing back the releases of my romances, Of Damsels and Dragons and Searching for Sara. Not necessarily a bad thing, now that I think on it, because I have a tendency of rushing the final stages of a book’s revision.

But I am up for the challenge, and I am determined to get back into the daily regime necessary to grow as a writer. This includes investing in reader and fellow-writer relationships.

Game on.