Weekly Thingy

Sometimes my husband lets down his guard and proves what a genius he really is. (Sidenote: is it ironic that I always misspell “genius”?) I was rambling on about not seeming to have the drive to write (off-blog) anymore, and he pointed out to me that I needed to take a page from Brotherhood 2.0 and Jonathan Coulton. If I force myself to write something on a schedule, without worrying about whether it’s good or trying to sell it to anyone, then I’ll rebuild the habit.

I have taken his words to heart, and have decided to commit to a WEEKLY THINGY.

This is for me more than anyone else, but I’ve found that the blogging community has helped me keep on track as a journaler, so I’m hoping it can similarly help me regain my obsession with creative writing. For me, and for anyone who is interested (whether to know what I’m doing, or to steal it for their own purposes), following are my WEEKLY THINGY GUIDELINES.

1. Once a week, I must produce one piece of creative writing.
2. For the purposes of the Weekly Thingy, “creative writing” is defined as:
   • fiction (either a complete short or short-short story, or 2,000+ words in a continuing longer piece)
   • essay or vignette
   • good poem (none of this “took me five minutes and wasn’t edited” crap)
   • NOT a blog entry
   • NOT a book review
3. For the purposes of the Weekly Thingy, a week runs Monday through Sunday.
4. It does not have to be good – it doesn’t even have to be clean or even remotely shareable – but it does have to get done.
5. Weekly Thingies will be posted online to help my friends and family hold me accountable. However, they will be password protected to cut down on performance pressure and protect copyright of any inadvertant works of brilliance.
6. I may save “backup” pieces for weeks when everything climbs into the handbasket and heads south, but it had better darn well be a seriously bad week, because the whole point is that I’m writing constantly.
7. If I fail to post a Weekly Thingy, my adoring public may suggest punishments for my wicked misdeed. These punishments must be something that can be performed online (think truth or dare) and must not be anything that would break any laws or get me fired from a respectable profession. 🙂
8. I reserve the right to revise these guidelines as needed to make the Weekly Thingy work! 🙂

I haven’t decided yet what to do about revisions. Revising work is the biggest, hardest, and most important part of writing, so maybe it ought to count… but right now my problem seems to be getting that first draft down, so maybe I ought to concentrate on that?

Hey – if I’m emulating Brotherhood in a way, particularly with Guideline #7, and they have NerdFighters, can I have WordFighters? 🙂

I am not sure if I will be able to get my first Weekly Thingy done in three days (although I am going to try) so next week may be the first week – we’ll see. I’m also not sure how wise this plan is, given that I’m going to be unbelievably busy come September, but hey – since when have I ever done the smart thing? 🙂