My Wondrously Lame and Immature Sticker Chart

Besides my log, I also have this:

As of Nov 21, 2013.

An author I met at an author panel shared with people her own sticker chart, which I also found to be a very reliable source of motivation for writing. Hers looked neater, but similar to how I organized mine. It is based on the reward system children use for their accomplishments and motivation, especially found in schools.

November 2013

  It's November and can't wait until it gets cold so I get miserable. But what am I complaining about? I live in Washington State! It has *mostly* mild weather year-round... except for the rain. I have a feeling it'll snow this winter. Maybe get stormy, too. I swear, those "low pressure systems" should have a better name when they turn into that long-tailed hurricane shape. They always bring a lot of wind and rain. I used to live just outside Bothell, WA and those storms used to wreak havoc on the trees, sending branches and weak trees down on the power lines each time.
  Just the other day (today is Nov 5th mind you), and my mom was at work. She went outside in the alley in the back and there was a dust devil about 10 - 15 feet high spinning dust and leaves all around the place. Sure freaked her out. I remember seeing those passing through the eastern part of the state. We don't often get those in the western part.
  But enough about the weather! 8(

# of words 

wrote each day, 

(diff. from day 

before)                     |||       Words         |||      Date          |||     Time Stopped     |||    Day

_____________________________________________________________________________

2,459 (+1,023)                   214,485                Nov 3                 3:26 AM                 91

2,029 (-430)                       216,514                  4                     4:14 AM                 92

2,872 (+943)                      219,386                  5                     5:17 AM                 93

1,700 (-1,172)                    221,086                 (5)                    5:58 PM                (93)    
1,252 (-448)                       222,338                  6                      3:52 AM                 94
3,190 (+1,938)                   225,528                  7                      4:11 AM                 95
351 (-2,839)                       225,879                  8                      2:50 AM                 96
634 (+283)  226,513                  9                      4:08 AM                 97
-160 (-794)  226,353                 12                     3:37 AM                98
357 (+517)  226,710 13 5:30 AM 99
75 (-282)  226,785 (13) 8:03 PM (99)
314 (+239)  227,099 14 4:45 AM 100
433 (+199)  227,532 15 4:11 AM 101
381 (-52)                      227,913 16 4:16 AM 102
464 (+83) 228,337 17 3:33 AM 103
371 (-93) 228,748 19 3:09 AM 104
65 (-306) 228,813 20 3:35 AM 105
-116 (-181) 228,697 21 12:36 AM 106

I can't wait until Day 100! It will be officially the 100th day I'll have been writing this book!               *Updated: Woohoo! I made it!!! I reached Day 100! And now it's 101. :) *so happy*                

                                                                                                            

October 2013

Wee! October! The month where I stayed at a friend's place having fun for a couple of weekends. It's good to fit in friends, going places, and trying new things amid writing. Otherwise, life can get a little dull: Today: Ate, did random boring things, daydreamed, wrote, slept. Repeat for the rest of eternity.

# of words 

wrote each day, 

(diff. from day 

before)                     |||       Words         |||      Date          |||     Time Stopped     |||    Day

_____________________________________________________________________________

1,123 (-974)                      171,323                 Oct 1                    2:16 AM                69

823 (-300)                         172,146                    2                       2:34 AM                70

872 (+49)                          173,018                    3                       3:29 AM                71

1,877 (+1,005)                   174,895                    4                       3:59 AM                72

2,372 (+495)                      177,267                     8                      3:37 AM                73

3,696 (+1,324)                   180,963                     9                      2:11 AM                 74

2,417 (-1,279)                    183,380                    10                     4:07 AM                 75

2,078 (-339)                       185,458                    11                     4:31 AM                 76

1,557 (-521)                       187,015                    12                     4:11 AM                 77

1,121 (-436)                       188,136                    13                      2:45 AM                78

88 (-1,033)                         188,244                    14                     11:59 PM               79

3,225 (+3,137)                   191,449                    15                      4:48 AM                 80

3,545 (+320)                      194,994                    16                      3:46 AM                 81

2,999 (-546)                       197,993                    17                      4:49 AM                 82

625 (-2,374)                       198,618                    18                      4:18 AM                 83

1,568 (+943)                      200,186 :)                 19                      2:40 AM                 84

1,453 (-115)                       201,639                   (19)                     5:28 AM                (84)

1,388 (-65)                         203,027                   20                      3:32 AM                 85

1,116 (-272)                        204,143                    22                     3:41 AM                 86

1,612 (+496)                       205,755                    23                     4:51 AM                 87

1,344 (-268)                        207,099                    24                     2:27 AM                 88

3,491 (+2,147)                    210,590                    25                     3:14 AM                  89

1,436 (-2,055)                     212,026                    26                      4:?? AM                 90

  When it got close to Halloween, I started getting bad dreams. 

  One night, I woke three times from zombies coming after me. That was disturbing, as everything looked so real. Before the dreams, I was confident I'd survive a zombie apocalypse. Now I see the reality of it and get freaked out by the thought of one (of course, I don't believe it'd actually happen). 

  Another night, I had a series of realistic ones: A scary man was hunting me, and a guy friend who doesn't exist in real life helped distract the man long enough for me to get away. Then a black and white stray (from real life) kept getting into my place somehow. More than once, I became frustrated at finding it back inside.

At some point in the dream, I found a couple of shelf drawers full of raisin bran cereal. The top had few raisins, and the bottom had a lot of them.

Finally, the most disturbing part, was the old house I was in: There were dark gray cobwebs hanging from the wood ceiling. They started gradually swinging until tapeworm-like maggots came out of them. Dropping above my friends and myself, they started coming down more and more, even to the point of dropping through the ceiling boards. It was raining hundreds of maggots. Then somebody screamed: "Let's get out of here!" I ran. It was that moment I finally woke.

Just this morning before waking (Nov 2), I had another. My brother brought in the black and white stray cat, as well as a black and brown one. There was some kind of storm coming, so my mom and I reluctantly agreed to keep them inside until it was over. That was when I woke. In real life, there was a wind storm outside. The lights were flickering occasionally and it was raining hard. Odd coincidence, huh?

  The second-to-last dream wasn't a bad one. It was with a few of the characters I'm presently writing about. I haven't had a dream with any of them for several months, now. I can't quite remember what happened in it, only that they were in an interesting place doing and saying some pretty interesting things. I think my story was calling me to keep going, since I've lately been feeling a little "less in the mood". Not a good thing for a writer to feel, especially if they want to keep going.

  As you can see, I'm almost at Day 100, so here I must press on.

  Thanks to all for the support!

September 2013

September! My little sis goes to school (high school, special ed. kid), so I no longer have to wake up (disturbed) near or after noon to her singing in the living room or playing a movie too loud. (We live in a teeny one-bedroom apartment that is NOT soundproof.) My priorities besides writing was also finding a job, but I was a little... hesitant. Several things came up at once all of a sudden, which made the stress worse. You can see it in my writing here and there. Not very much progress, then a whole lot. *Repeat*

Diff from                

last &                   

rate diff.                |||         Words                 |||  Date    |||  Time Stopped      |||  Day

__________________________________________________________________________

                                                                     Sept 1         (Late PM)               47

                                    128,133                         2              4:42 AM                48

1,721                            129,854                         3              4:40 AM                49

2,476 (+755)                  132,330                         4              3:16 AM                50

1,527 (-949)                   133,857                         5              11:59 PM              51

 887 (-388)                     135,132                         6              2:50 AM                52

1,275 (-252)                   136,019                         8               3:21 AM               53

4,479 (+3,592)               140,498 (font change)      9              11:59 PM              54

1,352 (-3,121)                 141,856                        10              3:22 AM               55

                                                                         12              11:59 PM             56

                                     144,007                        13              4:18 AM               57

2,804                             146,881                        14              2:47 AM               58

1,448 (-1,356)                 148,259                        15               2:14 AM              59

                                                                         19                                         60

                                     154,414                        20              4:43 AM               61

1,894                             156,308                        22              4:29 AM               62

2,448 (+554)                   158,756                       (22)             11:59 PM            (62)

3,267 (+819)                   162,023                        23               5:18 AM              63

1,421 (-2,026)                 163,264                        24               3:10 AM               64

2,007 (+766)                   165,271                        25               3:29 AM               65

100 (-1,907)                    165,371                        28               1:59 AM               66

1,077 (+977)                   166,448                       (28)              11:59 PM            (66)

1,655 (+578)                   168,103                        29               2:22 AM               67

2,097 (+442)                   170,200                        30               2:14 AM               68

  Ugh. The blanks spaces are annoying me. Those were nights where I stopped writing and I was too tired to record. But I did put a star in my "Writing Reward Chart" for those days, so I know I wrote then.
  The chart is basically a little handmade calendar in a composition book, in which I put a star sticker on each and every day I write. I was inspired to make it by the suggestion of author J. Anderson Coats, who uses a similar one herself to keep writing. I started it last August and since then, it's been my cure to writers' block. My thanks and a double high five!
  The only downfall: When I broke out of writers' block, I got affected by an illness called "readers' block". Still trying to find the cure, but at least I can still write!

August 2013

August. I had a church bike trip for a whole week. Then I kinda' got lazy afterwards and took a bigger break from writing. Then I got sick of doing practically nothing, so I picked it up again. Ahh, the sound of those lovely keys clacking as the story continues....

Difference from
Yesterday's Writing ||| Words     ||| Date  ||| Time Stopped |||  Day
_________________________________________________________________
                                96,746        Aug 1       1:33 AM              35
4,292                         101,038 :)     20          3:27 AM              36
2,095 (-2,197)               103,133       (20)         8:?? PM              (36)
1,669 (-426)                 104,802         21          3:39 AM              37
1,228 (-441)                 106,030         23          4:24 AM              38
3,037 (1,809)                109,067        24           5:22 AM              39             4,470 (+1,433)               113,537        25           5:14 AM              40
3,036 (1,434)                116,573        26           4:3? AM              41
1,387 (1,649)                117,951        27           4:56 AM              42
1,693 (+306)                 119,644        28           4:32 AM              43
701 (-992)                    120,345       (28)          6:12 PM             (43)           1,937 (+1,236)               122,282        29           4:17 AM              44
528 (-1,409)                  122,810        30           4:55 AM              45
1,747 (+1,219)               124,557        31           4:28 AM              46                                                                                          

By the way. The bike trip was amazing. If you ever have the chance to go on a bike trip, GO. It'll be the best journey of your life. Just be sure you have someone with you who knows how to repair bikes well. Saved a great many folks (including me). 
Back to my writing: I was so happy to have reached over 100,000 words. But that wasn't enough. (I have the story laid out in my head, and it wasn't even half-way through!) It feels great to accomplish something that isn't even finished, yet. :)