Skip to main content

I’ve made a few resolutions this year, and most of them have been going along swimmingly (apparently, one of these resolutions was to sound more like a dandy). But the one I’ve been absolutely dragging my feet on—also the one that should be the easiest—is the resolution that involves writing. Are you ready for this monster? Will you be able to fathom the sheer ambition of it? I resolved to write at least one hundred words every day. Do you know how fucking short that is? When you see the asterisk, you’ll know I’ve reached it. What* makes it even worse is that it doesn’t even have to be serious writing; from the start I decided that it could be a blog entry, or even correspondence of a ‘certain significance.’ I really don’t know why I’m screwing the dog so badly on this one; the dog keep crying out, but I just keep given’er. I worked on a story (for now titled: “Bohemians,”) for the first two days, and churned out one hundred decent words and just over one hundred shitty ones. Then I switched over to a Wednesday Movie entry, but that stalled. Now, here I am. I think the only reason I’ll get to the end of this is because it’s short.

Anyhow, woo-woo-woo. Whatever. Like I said, the other resolutions are going well. I’ve been running my daily half-marathons, praying my rosaries, and I’m half way through Finnegan’s Wake, so at least there’s that.

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
I've always found that forcing myself to write not only makes it harder to get words on the page, but it also makes the resulting writing suck ass. It's never any good.

Good luck with this one, Dave. I hope you churn out lots of 100-word gems of truth! ;-)
11:55 pm
Mark Hand said…
There's a community website called 100words.net -- but don't go there right now because it's not working -- where the goal is to write 100 words every day. No more, no less, exactly 100 words.

You sign up, then every day visit and enter your 100 words.

It's relaunching as 100words.com in a few days, you know, if you're interested.
9:13 am
Anonymous said…
Sounds like a good idea.

100wordswhenitworks.com is probably a more accurate moniker. ;)

I know that Beth resolved to write something every day.

I think there is a difference between trying to write something of substance every day versus just 100 words.

I think you will be able to do it, provided you keep in mind that sometimes your 100 words will be...

I don't know what to write today on this blog. I don't know what to write today on this blog. I don't know what to write today on this blog. I don't know what to write today on this blog. I don't know what to write today on this blog. I don't know what to write today on this blog. I don't know what to write today on this blog. I don't know what to write today on this blog. I don't know what to write today on this blog. I don't know what to write today on this blog.

You heard me.
1:10 pm
Dave said…
Some days I hate this forcing-myself-to-write thing, but overall it’s good. The whole waiting for the muse horseshit has never worked for me. Both the best writing I’ve ever done and worst writing I’ve ever done have come about because I strapped my ass into a chair. Some days will suck, others will be great. (For the record: this comment does not count towards the daily goal. Also for the record: I already churned out about five hundred words this morning. Go me!)

Mark – We’re around all weekend and would love to see the puppy. We’re more curious than afraid about how the cats will react. The family who owned Gunther before us used to have a dog, so we’ll think he’ll be fine. And Moe… well, he’s a bit of a paste-eater, so he probably won’t even know what it is until you left.
2:15 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discuss Amongst Yourselves - January 30th, 2006

In case you don’t read my comments (and if not, you’re nuts cause that’s where all the good stuff is), Courtney has just declared herself movie illiterate. So, if you had to recommend five essential movies that everyone should see, what would they be? Let me stress: only five. For those of you with break-the-rules tendencies (like--I dunno--just picking a name out of the air... Jorge ?), your comment gets chucked out. Give’r.
29 comments
Read more

A complex phrase, in which the various parts are enchained

“Barry,” my cousin Mike said, “I think it’s time.” It was clear that my brother didn’t feel the same way, but he only shrugged, which Mike took as agreement. “Dave,” he said, giving the words as much gravity as he could muster, “Go get the dictionary.” I was nine years old, and a tag-along. I’d walked in on my brother telling a story about how—during school that morning—a girl he knew got her period in the middle of French class. And I laughed like the dickens. And then they called me on it. After I’d lugged the dictionary down from the spare room, Mike told me to look up the word period and read out the definition. “The end of a cycle, a series of events, or a single action?” “Keep going,” he said. “The full pause with which a sentence closes?” “Not that.” “An interval of geologic—“ “Gimme that!” He yanked the book towards him, read down the page, and pointed me towards the definition he’d found. Menstruation: the monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from pu...
19 comments
Read more