10k Day

'10k?' I hear you thinking, 'she's been running when she should be at home writing?'  There are many reasons why the answer to that is a resounding NO - 1) it's cold here and there would have to be a very good reason for me to leave the house and 2) run 10k - me?  Have you met me?  Okay, no, most of you haven't met me, but I can assure you that I couldn't even run 1k, let alone 10.  I'm not overweight but equally I am just not that fit! 

No, 10k Day is a concept thought up by my new writing buddy Milli Thornton over at Fear of Writing whereby writers commit to trying to write a whole 10,000 words in one day, checking in periodically to post updates on their progress (and what snacks are helping them get through it!).  As one of them fell on my Writing Wednesday I thought it would be silly not to at least try, so after a late start (I won't bore you with why that was) I applied the BICHOK principle (Bum in Chair, Hands on Keyboard) and began. 

I chose to work on my NaNoWriMo project, which has been sadly languishing while I've been working long days and/or studying. #shame#  Fortunately, I'd thought ahead and done some plotting last night so that I had a bit of a route map to follow today, rather than having to think of the plot AND all the words.  So I got off to a flying start...if you're a friend on Facebook then you may have noticed my status and subsequent comments keeping the world updated with how I was doing.  I also updated my 'Toyah the Writer' Facebook page (feel free to look it up and 'like' it if you wish!) which in turn automatically updated Twitter (again, 'ToyahTheWriter'...do you see the branding I'm trying to apply?).  I do so love all this social media! 

Keeping tabs on the Fear of Writing blog page, which is where we were all checking in and updating each other, I forged ahead with periodic spurts of inspiration where the words really did just flow from my mind, down my arms and out of my fingers into the laptop.  It's quite a magical feeling!  Nourished by a bacon sandwich, chocolate biscuits and numerous cups of tea and coffee I managed to get to 3576 before it was getting dark outside and my stomach was telling me it was time for dinner...not the 10,000 I'd been hoping for, but certainly better than I've managed to get down in one day before now.  Progress! 

If you have something you're working on (not necessarily NaNoWriMo, it can be anything at all) and are in need of motivation, the next 10k Day is this Saturday (27th) - check out Milli's blog for more details and to check in.  The feeling of camaraderie is quite something, it's just so nice to have people cheering you on when you feel like it's just you and your laptop struggling along! 
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