Words written in May
- Crime fiction (Birkbeck assignment) = 999 words, after editing.
- Ruthless Scribbling blog posts = 819 words
- Ruthless Reading blog post = 467 words
- Ruth’s Coastal Walk blog posts = 7,564 words
- Historic fiction (Birkbeck assignment) = 993 words, so far
Total = 10,842 words
Progress with the writing challenge: 15KinMay
It is the 21st of May and we are two-thirds of the way through the month. My writing aim was to achieve a word count of at least 15 thousand words. I chose to spend the month updating my blogs and completing various creative writing assignments for my Birkbeck course.
Two thirds of 15 thousand = 10,000 words.
I am on target!
Why I participate in writing challenges?
I’m pondering a question. Why did I take on the 15K in May challenge? What am I hoping to achieve?
Well, there is something very powerful about a public challenge, particularly when a group of people are all doing the same thing. In fact, my first introduction to serious writing was through NaNoWriMo in 2010. That was an incredibly powerful and liberating experience. The aim of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. In 2010 I was one of thousands of people who participated – a huge army of hopeful writers. Only a proportion completed their 50,000 words – and I was one of them. It was easy. It was hard. It was brilliant. It was agony. It was all those things.
NaNoWriMo forced me to write quickly and with that free flow of words, I unleashed a creative energy I didn’t realise I possessed. And I also realised how difficult writing a novel actually is.
15K in May is an opportunity to harness the same collective energy, albeit with a smaller group of people. And Twitter and blogging has allowed us to keep in contact and monitor each other’s progress.
What next with my writing?
The other 15KinMay participants chose a variety of writing projects – but most of them concentrated on finishing or editing novel drafts. I have a novel in progress which I started in November 2011 (during NaNoWriMo). Although I have added many thousands of words since then, I have yet to finish the final draft.
My challenge for June will be a personal one. I’m going to call the month of June the month of Just Finish It!. Wish me luck.
Ruth Livingstone 
You are doing brilliantly, Ruth. Great momentum and focus. I am currently just under 10k myself but have had a slow few days, so I am hoping to get back on it this evening.
It’s been great to have you with us on the challenge.
Kelly’s Eye – Writing, Music, Life
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This is such a great idea that I’m tempted to try it myself in June (on my lonesome). I write regular blog entries and play around at other projects (currently a novel but I’ve several unfinished screenplays too) but I don’t treat my writing seriously enough. Too often allow other people’s demands to distract me when I am on a roll. I have thought of starting a separate blog about writing as motivation but that might end up being another distraction!
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