First Fifteen Challenge

Daily discipline has never been my strong suit. Anyone who’s ever asked me about my writing process for read an interview or post about it, knows that I am deadline driven. I write more (more words, more often) the closer I get to the due date.

That method has problems though. Not every project has a due date. Or sometimes they’re flexible. Or maybe I want to work on one thing while another thing is due. My slide-into-deadline method doesn’t work in those situations.

So I want to try something new. And you’re welcome to come along for the ride if you like. It’s called First Fifteen Challenge and the rules are simple.

1. Write for fifteen minutes first thing in the morning.

That’s it. Only the one rule.

Every morning, before I do anything else (barring biological necessities and overslept alarms) I will write for fifteen minutes. One quarter of an hour. Nine-hundred seconds. Before I go downstairs for breakfast. Before I check my email. Before I read my blog feed. Before… anything.

On a bad day that might give me 250 words. On a good day 500 words.

And just so you can picture how something so simple can turn into something big… if I do that every day for six months I’ll have a rough draft of a novel. A book in fifteen minutes a day for six months. Two books a year. Wow.

I’ve added a Don’t Break the Chain widget to my blog sidebar so the entire world will be able to see my progress.