Boy! It’s been a busy month. (Don’t worry, I sent the Duke home.)  I’ve been writing, keeping track of the NPI tallies, training at work, reading books, doing the ‘Couch-to-5k’ program, and … I’ve been being a dad. I feel so productive!

But the trick is keeping it up. Can we continue to write each and every day? I know I fall off the writing wagon sometimes, but NPI always gets me hopping back on to try again.

I’d like to thank everyone who participated, with an extra-big congratulations to everyone who finished.

Together we cranked out an average of 5,341 words per day. This was in no small part thanks to Ryan and Brian, who both went above and beyond what the Novel Push Initiative requires each day.

In all, four people ended up passing which gives us a 50/50 pass ratio.

I’ve broken down everyone’s stats below. After the breakdown, there will be an awards section.

1. Ryan G. Sanders
https://twitter.com/RG_Sanders
http://www.ryangsanders.com/

Pledged to write 250 words per day.
Number of strikes left: 0
Highest Word Count in a Day: 7,577
Lowest: 250
Average: 1,611
And the Grand Total: 48,330

2. Brian Niemeier Read the rest of this entry »

*blows whistle*

All right. Listen up, Pushers. It’s been five days now. Let’s see how you’re doin’.

*eyes paper taped to a wall*

Yeah, you’ve been writin’ all right. All eight of ya. (How am I supposed ta kick your butts if ya keep writin’ every day?)

OK. Fine. So maybe you’re five, six days in and thinkin’, “Yeah, this is easy.”

*scoffs* Hell Yeah it’s easy for you. You’ve got your cushy leather couches and your custom lattes and your cute little portable notebooks. Peh. Let me tell ya somethin’: I write on jagged brick walls with nothin’ but my bare knuckles. I’m not even postin’ my wordcounts on here because it would Blow Your Mind. This post? Written in blood and knuckle-skin. (You wouldn’t catch me typin’ this; I’m havin’ Mr. Lawyer here type it out instead.) *cracks what’s left of his knuckles*

Or maybe you’re thinkin’,  *in a girly voice* “Jeez. It’s only five days in and I’m already gettin’ lazy. I don’t know if I can make it through.”

Well, Pusher, think of it this way: All those days, weeks, months, or years that you didn’t write, they’re gone. But this month is different. This month is gonna feel like it’s gonna take a long time. And that’s good. You’re gonna do me a favor and basque in that time. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Just take it one day at a time. Keep with it and I promise: Amazing Things will happen with your story.

(For details on each day, check out the Word Count Repository.)

Word totals so far:

1. Ryan G. Sanders – WC Total: 22,428
https://twitter.com/RG_Sanders

2. Brian Niemeier – WC Total: 6,881
http://www.facebook.com/people/Brian-Niemeier/100002462676719

3. Robin Ford – WC Total: 5,500
http://twitter.com/#!/rakford

4. KLC the Book Worm – WC Total: 4,544
http://disciplineunderfire.blogspot.com/

5. kakapo – WC Total: 4,221
http://twitter.com/#!/kakapo1

6. Ranee Dillon – WC Total: 2,779
http://twitter.com/#!/raneedillon

7. Julie – WC Total: 2,673
http://jflamingoreflections.blogspot.com/

8. Nick Enlowe – WC Total: 1,241
http://twitter.com/#!/NickEnlowe

ALL RIGHT! Good job so far, everybody. Nobody charley horses or swirlies today. Well, except for Nick Enlowe.

Nick Enlowe:
*dries off and rubs leg*

Jeez, how’d I get in last place!?

You should know that Ryan G. Sanders just released his very first eBook. It’s got a slick presentation and is written in bite-sized, easy-to-digest entries for on-the-go reading, so definitely check it out. You can see samples and purchase it online at Smashwords or Amazon.

He’s also hoping for more reviews ;D

Anyway, I concur. You’re all doing a wonderful job at kicking my butt.

Happy pushin’!

THE DUKE:
Hm. Only one more mega-pack of chewin’ gum left. Too bad the flavor in each of these only lasts about 0.7 seconds. Oh well, while I’m chewin’, let’s see who signed up for boot camp.

1. Ryan G. Sanders
250 words per day
https://twitter.com/RG_Sanders
http://www.ryangsanders.com/

2. KLC the Book Worm
250 words per day
http://disciplineunderfire.blogspot.com/

3. Brian Niemeier
1300 words per day
http://www.facebook.com/people/Brian-Niemeier/100002462676719
http://soulsagabooks.blogspot.com/

4. Robin Ford
Two pages (Assuming these pages consist of Times New Roman font, 12pt, single-spaced, setting your goal at 1,000 words per day)
http://twitter.com/#!/rakford
http://www.onemadwomansonemillionwords.blogspot.com/

5. kakapo
250 words per day
http://twitter.com/#!/kakapo1

6. Julie
250 words per day
http://twitter.com/#!/jflamingo2
http://jflamingoreflections.blogspot.com/

7. Ranee Dillon
700 words per day
http://twitter.com/#!/raneedillon
http://raneedillon.blogspot.com/

8. Nick Enlowe
250 words per day
http://twitter.com/#!/NickEnlowe

NICK ENLOWE:

Ah, memories. The original Novel-Push Initiative (It was hyphenated back then) was announced way back on February 5th, 2009. Now that may not sound like such a long time ago to you, but back then I wasn’t finished drafting my first novel, I was out of a job, I’d only written two short stories, and my son wasn’t even born yet.

The rules were pretty crude back then, but I was feeling pretty good about the idea of writing 250 words per day (pretty nervous, too). Towards the end of February, I was pretty sure I’d be going it alone, but then miraculously Packsister decided to join in, then Ryan G. Sanders did. It was us three versus the month of March, 2009. And ever since then, I’ve never felt alone as a writer again.

It’s been a long journey. This is actually the seventh NPI.

March 2009:
The Novel-Push Initiative (The original!)

May 2009:
Novel-Push Initiative Redux

September 2009:
Merrilee’s NPI

December 2009:
‘Laid-back Edition’ (Insurance mascots and first time there were days of reprieve)

March 2010:
The first one where you could actually earn more days of reprieve.

Oct 2010:
‘Custom NPI’

September 2011:
THE DUKE

Get out those pre-NPI jitters and get ready to write! The duke’ll be checking in on you, starting tomorrow ^_^.

Good luck, everyone!

So, you think you’ve got what it takes to tackle an NPI, do you?
Well then, welcome to the first day of the rest of your Next Month.

What I wanna see:

I wanna see you writin’.
I don’t care if you’re producing puke-on-a-page or the next Pride and Prejudice. Just write.

What you’re gonna do:

You’re gonna write words. 250 of ‘em. Per day. For a month. And you’re gonna support the other participants. You know, cheer ‘em on and what-not.

What I’m gonna do:

I’m gonna be checkin’ in to make sure you write those words. And I want you to post your results each day. Post ‘em somewhere public. I’ll be keepin’ track here. Oh, and three strikes and you’re out. NO EXCUSES!

Um, actually … *whisper*

What? Oh yeah. Well, three excuses, actually. BUT NO MORE!

Um, *whisper-whisper*

Sigh… My lawyer wants to tell you something.

Um… yes. *mic feedback* Ahem. I would simply like to state that you can pledge to write less than OR more than 250 words per day if you so desire. But, please, make it no less than 100. Oh, and you can edit, too. The number of words you’ve edited can count towards your goal. Um… *flips pages*Ah yes. If you can’t easily count the number of words you’re writing, you can always use the average words per page to come up with your totals.

Furthermore, if you will be posting your results via Twitter, please use the hashtag #NovelPI. It makes the action so much easier to follow for us lawyers and for the other participants, too. I suppose a typical ‘tweet’ might look something like this:

Day 10: 289 words. #novelpi

If you are unable to get your wordcount posted by midnight, you do indeed get a strike. I’m afraid we are quite serious about this–Three strikes and you truly are out of the race. Where we may have been lenient in the past, well, just ask the big guy. But that doesn’t mean strikes have to be negative. I mean, you can use them as the equivalent of ‘days off’, after all.

And let me assure you, we are interested if you are writing the next Pride and Prejudice–And I apologize for his rude-

Gimme that. Boy, I hate lawyers, always complicatin’ things. I don’t know about you, but I almost fell asleep. Look, this ain’t rocket science. 250 words per day. Capice?

Now that all that legal-ese is out of the way …

It’s time to write words and chew bubble gum, AND I’M ALL OUT OF GUM.

(Or at least I will be, on SEPTEMBER 1st!)

For me, the hardest part of being a writer isn’t the actual writing, it’s the sitting down to write in the first place.

And it is hard. Don’t let anyone fool you.

I see writers’ communities with message boards dedicated to battling writer’s block. Someone will post that they desperately need help because they haven’t written for days, weeks, months, or even years.

But the length of time seems irrelevant to most of the other posters, who simply tsk and say that clearly there’s something wrong with the OP’s story/characters/etc. (even though they haven’t actually read the OP’s story), or they’ll cite several other common reasons to explain why that person isn’t writing, coupled with several cliché solutions to fix it.

These posts piss me off. I don’t think writer’s block is so easy a creature to pin down. It has far more possible causes than one could ever hope to list.

Then there’s the people who’ve actually suffered from writer’s block and overcame it. They offer what worked for them–And that’s really the best anybody can do. Posts like this are my favorite when I’m looking for inspiration. They give me hope that, yes, writer’s block can be overcome.

I’ve come across a book written by someone who seems to ‘get it’. If you sometimes struggle like me, or even if you don’t, I highly recommend that you click the following link and read the excerpt: http://www.stevenpressfield.com/the-war-of-art/#book-top

The book is called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. The excerpt inspired me so much, I plan on reading it as soon as I finish Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind (which I am most of the way through).

I’ve got a computer, but it’s in my basement. If I want to be cold, alone, and worry about my monitor losing signal, and going blank (which forces a reboot), it’s a good place to write.

I’ve also got a laptop (Actually, it’s my wife’s–Mine died about four years ago.). The battery is going bad. The display is on the fritz just like the monitor in the basement. To prevent the screen from going blank, I had to strip off the front cover, tape down the wiring, and leave the screen portion open and exposed at all times. I’m afraid any attempts to move it or take it places could cause it to go blank permanently.

And then there’s my work computer. It’s pretty nice, actually. All up to date and there’s two monitors and both of them work. But work’s been keeping me pretty busy these days. I can’t really expect to write much during breaks, either, because if I’m sitting at my desk, my coworkers think I’m on the clock and ask me for help. And I’m the kind of guy who helps out even if I’m on break.

Supposing I could write uninterrupted for 15 minutes twice a day, it’s difficult for me to get into a writing mode in such a short period of time. On the same token when I do somehow manage, it’s too easy to lose track of time.

Obviously I need a new computer. But for now I’m using Swype. Yes, I’m Swyping my right into my Android Phone.

This post? Swyped comfortably from my bed.

Fiction? Yup. I’m halfway through writing one of those short stories that I’ve been meaning to write this year. And I owe it all to the portability of Swyping. I can pop out my phone and start writing or editing whenever I have free time. Those spare minutes throughout the day really do add up. While it’s still difficult to get into ‘writing mode’, at least it’s progress.

I’m seriously considering Swyping my novel revision. I mean, if it’s working, then why not?

1. I still haven’t gotten a rejection letter for my short story submittal.
2. Brian’s starting to show some interest in having writing sessions with me again.
3. Merrilee’s decided she’s writing 100 words for 100 days, with an open invite for all who’d like to give it a try.
I found Merrilee’s challenge inspiring and decided to join in. Currently, we’re on day 16. I’ve missed a few days, but I’ve definitely been showing a healthy interest in writing again–Don’t wanna jinx it, though.