On Hundred Days Ago...

One hundred days ago …

· My brother was eleven years old

· My sister was eight years old

· My indoor soccer team hadn’t started yet… which didn’t end any better than it started anyway : )

· My Great Poppop was alive

· We hadn’t celebrated Good Friday or Easter yet

· Garage sale season hadn’t started yet

· My little sister was still sleeping in the pink bedroom down the hall

· I still hadn’t gone to my first Union game

· I was still waiting for Snow Camp to come

· Runners were still training for the Boston Marathon

· I was still eating gluten

· My second draft of my novel “Brick Walls” was still blank with zero words.

When I started Go Teen Writers’ 100-4-100 challenge for the second time, one hundred days seemed likes a daunting number of days and, it was. As you can see, a lot happens in one hundred days both good and bad. I found this challenge harder because I was working on my second draft. Last time I was on my first draft. I guess creativity comes easier when it’s for the first time. Let’s compare last challenge to this:

Goal:

Last time: Finish first draft

This time: Finish second draft

Goal?

Last time: Completed a few days after the challenge (25,000 words)

This time: Not yet done (50,000 word goal) (20,000 to go)

Grace Day(s) Taken:

Last time: 3

This time: 1

Total Words:

Last time: 16,886

This time: 30,034

So I obviously wrote more in this challenge. Spring break deserves a big thank you for that. I had a steep goal so I’m okay with not reaching it, but I just have more work to do before I go to a writers’ conference this summer. 100-4-100 builds great habits, and once you hit day 30, you realize how easy one hundred words is. In fact, I haven’t stopped. I’m still cranking out at least a hundred words every day. And for my purpose, I have expanded that to “at least one hundred in both novels I’m working on.”

This challenge was more fun than last time because my dad and my brother joined in. My dad is posting chapters from his middle grade boys’ mystery book on his blog, keyboard contemplations. After it was over, my mom made us a steak dinner, and my dad took us out for milkshakes, a great reward for a challenge that tested your discipline—and memory—quite often.

Remember that the giveaway for The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet ends soon!

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