The First 10 Hours

I did it!

I have officially completed the first 10 hours of my 100-hour challenge.

And boy was it a rollercoaster of emotions!

Speaking (or writing) as someone who is a very sporadic writer – I can go weeks… months without writing a word, just living in fear of the blank page and of my “not good enough” attempts to fill it - to writing 3,000 words in a couple of nights.

To say I was nervous about this challenge is an understatement.

I was very apprehensive as to how realistic and achievable the first 10 hours would be.

But in 15 days (14 if we’re counting actual writing days), I completed my first 10 hours of writing.

Now, as I mentioned in the intro to this challenge, the 100 hours do not have to be solely on literal typy-typing thousands of words on the screen. Although, of course, the majority would hopefully be spent in such an activity.

But truly, this 100-hour challenge is about investing in my writing. Investing in the craft, the discipline, the art, the skills, the emotional willpower and stamina.

Because, as I said in my intro – writing kind of terrifies me – but it’s also all I am. And trying to navigate the bridge/relationship between those two sides of my brain has been a challenge.

So, yes, actual creating of worlds and poems and stories that fill my brain, and the page is a big part of this challenge, but so is an online creative writing course, so is learning about the quirks and adaptations that someone of neurodiverse brain matter needs to understand to thrive as a writer.

So, all in all, it was a very healing, soft 10 hours, where I definitely covered a lot of areas, but I also learnt that writing CAN be a little less terrifying.

And, that the writing fear is not just a me thing.

Who knew?

With regards to the nitty-gritty, I kept a record of the first 10 hours and everything I managed to write, watch, submit and consume in that time.

Here is that list:

-            Finished watching a class on rejection sensitivity for neurodivergent writers

-            Watched two videos of a course on writing children’s fantasy

-            Created a story outline for my novel idea – using a ‘key story stages’ method

-            Completed a ‘story circle’ method for my novel idea

-            Wrote 1030 words of Chapter One of my novel

-            Wrote my response to a local writing group challenge

-            Wrote a poem about masks for an online contest – submitted the poem

-            Started a short story about a Constable

-            Wrote a poem about lanterns for an online contest – submitted the poem

-            Started watching a class on procrastination and avoidance for neurodivergent writers

-            Completed my first draft of the story about a Constable

-            Finished the Constable story and submitted it to an online contest (available to read in my profile)

-            Continued the procrastination class

I feel pretty damn proud of this list.

I didn’t really know what to expect, having never really timed my writing/investment in my writing before. But I am choosing to be really proud of this list. Because, if I’m honest, without this challenge, I’m not sure it would have been this meaty of a list in two weeks.

So, going into my second 10 hours, (as I’m writing this very sentence, I am forty-five minutes into hour 11!) I feel excited to continue.

I feel motivated to complete the next 10 hours in under 15 days and am excited to discover what I can achieve in another 10 hours.

And if I was at a 10/10 fear of writing before, I think now it's a bit more of a 9.5.

At least for today.

And that, to me, is priceless.

See you at hour 20.