Saving my journal entry this morning, I realized this week marked two solid months. I’ve only missed 4 days since the end of June.

This is impressive for me. Usually, I have the attention span of a gnat and projects are fun to start, but never seem to be finished.

My early journal entries are shaky and uncertain. Some days, I forced myself to put down any thought that popped into my head. What I wrote didn’t matter, as long as I was wrote. Now, 1,000 words in a half hour is a comfortable pace. The words flow best when I rant, sure, but I can tell I’ve been flexing my writing muscles.

Every writing book I’ve read emphasizes the permission a writer needs to grant themselves to write a really crappy first draft. I’ve certainly excelled at upholding that tradition this summer!

As Fall begins (at least where actual seasons happen), I find myself wanting to push harder. Two months of writing a thousand or so words in a journal is nothing in any grand scheme, but for me it is significant progress.

I have a finished first draft of a 6k-word short story and 25k words on a single novel manuscript (three times my previous efforts). However, I now facing a new challenge: pulling the raw ideas together to create consistent, compelling and interesting stories.

Occasionally, I’m going to hit brick walls like I did last week. I can chalk it up to nerves and lack of self-confidence, but I’m also determined to finish this novel.

I’d be interested to hear how others push themselves and how they have set goals for themselves.