#IWSG: I Heart Writing and #FeedTheHungryEH 

Welcome to the December 2014 meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group, brainchild of Alex J. Cavannaugh. I hear there's big news about the new guide a whole bunch of us contributed to, so head over to Alex's or the IWSG website for details.

Last month I told you about my own private NaNoWriMo, in which I vowed to spend 90 unplugged minutes a day writing. I'm happy to tell you that I succeeded in doing just that. I didn't set any word goals, just required myself to move forward each day, so I'm rather surprised to find that during the month of November I added 30K words to my WIP.

I actually found that it was good for me to set an upper limit on my writing time. On the few days when I had hours stretched in front of me to do nothing but write, my progress was sluggish. When I knew that I absolutely had to stop writing at the end of 90 or 120 minutes, I wrote with a greater sense of urgency and  therefore was more focused.

The best thing about this NaNo excercise was that it helped me give myself permission to make writing a priority. Instead of my writing getting lost at the bottom of the never-ending pile of to-do's, it was right up near the top.  And you know what? It's going to stay there through December. Because I'm knee-deep and totally in love with this story---and determined to finish draft one by the end of the year.

Whassup with you this month?

Before you go, please check out the cyber food drive sponsored by MJ Joachim at Effectively Human and consider joining in the effort. All you have to do is post about your local food bank on your social networks Dec. 4-6. I'll be promoting the Northern Illinois Food Bank. #FeedTheHungryEH