Going from seven years to 90 Days To My Novel...the contract

Hello, I’m Andrea.  Firstly, I am myself.  Secondly, I am married.  I have one dog and no children.

I have been working on stories for seven years.  And I never finished a one.  After counting all my special writing files listing the working titles, there are seven stories. 

At first that thought brought me down.  Seven years...in some instances that length of time qualifies as time served for bad luck if a broken mirror is involved.

Through those years, I have purchased story-writing software:  Writer’s Dreamkit, Dramatica Pro, Character Writer, Freemind (flowchart software), and WhiteSmoke (editing software).  You can imagine how relieved I was to count five and not seven.

My back story…

I’ve worked in a myriad of industries: corporate, manufacturing, nursing, and military; All mostly, in office environments, Monday through Friday with weekends off.

There were times we had to relocate to a new state…no problem.  I found out everything I needed to know to make the move happen with success; Three times in seven years. 

I even managed to join the military in that time frame.

So I had to ask myself:  How could a person with the imagination to create situations, scenarios, characters, dialogue, etcetera; And with the tools to write not to mention the oodles of time to do it in… just not make it happen?

After careful consideration to how I approach work and deadlines I realized I didn’t have structure.  At work, I am given projects and told what the timeframe and deadlines are. If I could be so successful at work why not apply the technique to my writing.

I am setting aside all my cool writing software and have created a schedule for writing out of the “90 Days To Your Novel” A Day-by-Day Plan for Outlining & Writing Your Book by Sarah Domet.

It’s not cooking all the recipes in a book in a year.  It’s writing one story from my mind in ninety days. 

The contract:  Out of respect for the author the writing contract is not in full detail.  That is on page 10 in the “90 Days To Your Novel” A Day-by-Day Plan for Outlining & Writing Your Book by Sarah Domet.  But you’ll get the gist of it.

Writing Contract

Agreement made this 1^st day of August in the year 2013 whereby I, Andrea Ayers do hereby commit myself to writing a minimum of two to three hours a day, every day, for ninety consecutive days. 

I am entering this agreement with myself because I recognize that the only way to write a novel is to dedicate myself to the project and to put in the necessary (solitary) time.

I will begin my novel on August 3rd, 2013 and expect my first completed draft to be finished on October 31, 2013, approximately ninety days later. 

This pledge is made with my full consent and awareness and under no obligation to anyone but me.