#parisdecouverte

Day 10 of #the100dayproject. Word count hovering at about 4000 words. I’m a little behind in my one page per day goal. I was on an 8 day streak before life interfered... bookkeeping, parental duties and social commitments in the lead up to the holiday season, all kept me from writing on days 9 and 10.

Despite the setbacks of the last couple of days, I’m happy with my progress. It’s been such a motivating way to get the words out. This framework makes it accessible and achievable to get in daily writing practice. Posting on Instagram daily also keeps me accountable - it’s tangible proof of my efforts (or lack thereof).

I had very little time today to dedicate to the project, so I opted to write this update to reflect on the last 10 days instead of continuing the story.

I think the most important thing I’ve learned is just how important it is to not read back and constantly edit the words on the page. The temptation to do so is incredibly strong, but it’s such a bad move as it really awakens your inner critic (you know, the one that lives inside us all!). What I’ve found so valuable about this process is just how effective it is at silencing that inner critic. One page per day is approximately 500 words, which is long enough to paint a scene and progress the story. It’s also short enough that it’s not a huge loss if it ends up being total rubbish. The (self-imposed) pressure around the quality of what I’m writing lessens dramatically when writing such bite-size chunks.

It’s still early days yet, but so far I’m really enjoying this experience. It really has kick-started my creativity.

Link to Instagram below if you want to check out the extracts I’ve posted so far.