I. Am. Mika.

Day 1 of the 21 Day Challenge

Most people believe that it is impossible to write a novel no matter how much time you have. Well, I say to those people that I am from a different school of thought. And to prove this, as of 6:37 a.m. on Thursday morning, January 21st 2010, I have committed myself to finishing the first draft of my new manuscript in less than 30 days (twenty one days to be exact)…and do you know how?

I am just going to write from my inner soul: write from my heart, then rewrite from my head because I trust that my heart is smarter than my head is. My heart already feels this novel, it has already written this novel; its just my head that gets it on the paper.

I’ve already done the hard work. I’ve already explored the story and done the research. I’ve already created the vision and brainstormed the characters, events, and made it linear and, at times non-linear. I’ve already shaken it, smelled it, and looked at from every angle–even upside down–I’ve even dreamed about it. And, I’ve already decided how the story should sound, look, and I know the feel of it and the tone. Therefore since my head has already done the had part, it’s time to let my heart go deliciously free, and to not let the two interfere for the next 21 days.

DAY 1- SPEED PAGES
The plan is to throw down as fast as I can, as fast as it comes to me.
Rule 1 : Don’t think
Rule 2: Take a deep breath, imagine what I see as if it were a movie on the screen. Write what I see.
Rule 3: Go for it

TIMELINE:
From Day 1 to Day 7 I’ll write a very fast and rough random draft. I’ll write for no more than five hours a day, (in broken down intervals, if I have to) that way I can still grocery shop, cook dinner, dust, do laundry, do homework and play with my son, work out, take a bubblebath, read a bedtime story, and have some resemblance of a life.
On Day 8 I rest. (Even God took a break on the 7th day)
On Day 9 I will read my random draft
From Day 10 to Day 17 I will rewrite; doing specific pages each day.
Day 18 to 21 I will tweak and polish

HOW TO BEGIN:
I’m going to turn on my inner movie projector. I’m going to close my eyes and look for visual clues, then I’m going to intensify the images. When I am ready, I am going to open my eyes and type, type, type type, type. I will work with a stream-of-unconsciousness.

The key to accomplishing this task is to turn a hard thing like writing a book into something very simple because Lord knows that my middle name is “Little Miss Perfectionist”; which basically means that I obsess over every little detail. Yes people, even a person as motivated as myself can take forever to write a book, and honey I aint having that. A year from now I refuse to still be bloggng about writing this book. in fact, a year from now I plan to have already moved on the next phase: published and promoting.

So ladies and gentleman, off I go into the wild blue yonder. I will most certainly update this blog tomorrow. Until then, even if you’re not an author, maybe you can apply these basic principles to another aspect of your life. Remember, if God gave you legs and arms, and if you are breathing, then you can do it. Just Free your mind…and the rest will follow.