ROW80 April 24 Check-in

Holy smokes, it's nearly been a month of this crazy ROW80 life!

Since I don't particularly feel like complaining how I've only written 200 words this week, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about all the wonderful things I feel ROW80 has brought me. Even if this particular week wasn't particularly productive in terms of the actual challenge, I do think it's a good example of how ROW80 has extended its influence into all parts of my life.

Truthfully folks, and this is brings me a bit of shame to admit, I haven't really Been a Writer in a number of years. That is to say, I haven't regularly written/revised/brainstormed/etc. for any period longer than a couple of weeks since I was about fourteen. I guess I can blame this on high school or something, but there are plenty of people out there who maintain full-time jobs and write routinely, so I think it's a failing of my own character for the past few years.

So now that I'm starting the process of writing routinely again, I've noticed a few things. The first of which is that it makes me happy. Really, truly happy. I don't just limit this to good days of writing, either. Obviously a day where I can sit down and mash out 2,000 words in two hours is going to be a good day. But there's a much more long-term effect going on. I feel productive. I feel like a person who is contributing to the world in some way, even though so far I'm the only one reading the crazy things I write. I feel like an interesting person. I feel more engaged with other people. All of these "side-effects" may not come as a surprise to you, but they did surprise me.

So, while my ROW80 goals may have fallen by the wayside this week, I do not feel that I have failed myself in any way. I'm finishing up my semester. I'm making awesome plans for the summer (see post below on how I scored a paid internship in LA!) I feel like I've got a handle on life in a way that I haven't before. I'm attributing this, in part, to ROW80 for encouraging me to have goals and make plans and stop just waiting around for things to happen. When I'm writing, I'm making things happen and asserting my control in this weird, fictional universe, but I think it's bleeding over into my actual universe. In the best possible way.