Holy cows in space, it's the end of the month

So that went well *snirk*
Okay. So what do we know about the winter months that follow after NaNoWrimo? They harbor the beast of melancholy that attacks without warning and without mercy. As the snow, gray skies, and lonely days stretch out ahead of you, it is so hard to squeeze creativity onto the page when your reserves have been sucked dry.

That's why I only managed to write on my novel for 9 hours this month. I said it.

***** That makes Valerie the official winner of the Writing Time Challenge!!!!  *****

That number is painfully low, and it's painful to make my lack of progress public - but there is no use hiding or denying any longer. I might as well make this wound known and start treating it.

March is just around the corner. With every new month, brings new life and second chances. This particular month also brings with it some extra things:

1)  SPRING TIME OMG
      - I miss my muse of blue skies and sunshine mornings.

2)  Girl vacation and writing retreat!
       - I'm renting a cabin with my sister-in-law in a woodsy area in the last week of March. Without taking a real vacation in 2014, I am so looking forward to recharging my creative batteries. I look forward to making some lasting memories in Holland before I move back to the states

3)  New attitude
     - I've spent February feeling sorry for myself. There I said it outloud! I was a baby and complaining became a habit. Time to check my thoughts, show them the door, and follow my heart, not my stupid head!

Notice how I didn't make any writing goals?
That's correct. Nano is amazing, but trying to replicate that feeling ten times over makes the magic disappear. It's time that I write because I want to, not because I have to. That I write and NOT feel guilty about breaking a word count goal.
(Which, by the way, is much easier than a "writing time" goal. I was so wrong about that!)

Also, I recently had a lot of fun writing a scene together with my writing buddy Valerie. I honestly wouldn't mind swapping chapters or writing on another project, as payment for someone helping me with my own. Maybe we should even become dual authors!!

So here's to progress: let it flow naturally and without guilt. It's most important that we first feel good about ourselves, before we can feel good about our writing. Here's to a new month!