A Writing Routine and a Positive Rejection

Yesterday was the beginning of my second 14-Day Challenge. While the first one started off well, the exercise fizzled out at the end. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't successful in kick-starting my workout routine. The good news is, I was more successful than I've been in months at motivating myself to exercise. And I think I figured out that the real goal where exercise is concerned is to establish a routine of getting up earlier in the morning. Working out in the evenings after work just doesn't happen regularly. I make all of the excuses in the book. But when I was working out religiously in the mornings, I had less excuses and more energy. I'm sensing a third 14-Day Challenge in my future.

In the mean time, I'm concentrating on my Writing Challenge. I’m in a particularly creative mood these days, and seem to be quite motivated, which may skew my challenge results a bit. I won’t spend the money before it’s in the bank, though. I’m planning each day’s writing ahead of time, so excuses and procrastination can’t keep me from reaching my goal of at least 30 minutes of writing each day. And what better motivation to keep writing than the kind rejection I received in my mailbox yesterday:

While [your essay] didn’t fit our needs right now, I appreciated your courage and candor, both in grappling with the body/weight issue and writing about it. It needs to find a place in print and I’m sure it will. Thanks for thinking of us.

Who wouldn’t want to keep writing and sending out their stuff after getting encouragement like that? Of course, now that I’m re-reading it, he doesn’t directly comment on my actual writing, does he? Still, it was just what I needed to kick-start my new writing ritual.

Stay tuned for some story and essay samples, if all goes well.