Day 4: The Rules

Wow. I needed a serious cat-cuddle after writing that yesterday. 

Which brings me to: The Rules.

Below are the rules for my 365 Day, 365 Hour Writing Challenge. 

If I fail to complete my 365-Hour Writing Challenge, I will donate $3,650 to the campaign to re-elect the 45th President of the United States, which is a strong enough disincentive to get me to do pretty much anything.

1. I must write 1 hour per day for the next 365 days. If I get behind due to illness, or unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, I can make up hours. However, the general preference goes to writing first thing in the morning every single day. 

2. I must write original, creative and/or generative work during the hour. Any type of writing counts: fiction, nonfiction, essays, poetry or “how to” guides — but it must include drafting works with an aim for publication as opposed to editing and publishing existing writing, or writing with an aim for mental or emotional processing such as a diary or journal. 

3. I will try to post on this blog about my writing roughly twice a week. The content of these blog posts can, but does not have to be, written during my daily hour. 

4. I will allow cuddling the kittens during the hour — so long as it happens concurrently to my writing or after I finish something substantial, when I many need some emotional support. 

5. I will allow a limited amount of reading and research during this hour. However, it must advance a specific project or seek a specific citation and remain time-limited. For example, I can devote 15 minutes per day or 1 day per week to researching multiple items, but not leisure reading, general reference reading or scrolling social media. 

6. The Ultimate Disincentive holds the key to this challenge. 

So, I have used different incentive systems in the past, such as promising myself a massage after certain number of workouts (apparently not a strong enough incentive) or a thrift store shopping spree if I persisted through a particularly challenging week at work (that one worked — I bought myself a new-to-me watch!). 

But for this sizable a challenge, I need some serious motivation. 

And that may have to look like a disincentive. 

Because people are loss averse — they register the pain of losing $100 as greater than the joy of winning $100 — a disincentive for quitting or skipping days may be in order. 

So, using an idea from the same book that inspired my 356 days, 365 hour challenge, I am going to motivate myself to write by committing to make a sizable donation to a cause that I hate — say, Donald Trump’s reelection campaign — if I don’t reach my goal. 

This will powerfully motivate me. 

If I made this hate-donation, it would not only divert funds away from my other priorities, but it would also put me on a public donor list and likely flood my inboxes (real and virtual) with pro-right wing propaganda. 

It would include a whole host of other unpleasant downstream effects, too, such as our country’s descent into authoritarianism and the imminent destruction of the world as we know it.

Honestly, I feel concerned that just typing that sentence will make my Facebook ads and search engine hits go berserk. 

So, while the amount of this prospective donation remains to be determined — $365 would be nicely symbolic, but something on the order of $2,000 or $3,650 would hurt me much more— I can confidently say that this disincentive will keep me motivated to complete my challenge.

After an unexpected wake-up at 2 AM this morning (because, well, children), I can attest that getting up at 5:30 AM daily to write and then blogging about it, in addition to working my day job and raising a family, may prove pretty tough. I am going to need all the help I can get. 

Yet, this also makes me feel optimistic. As I endeavor to write more, I know all of you reading will hold me accountable if I slack off for a few days! You will message me asking where I have been or support me if I get in a bind and have to make up hours — even if only to prevent a large chunk of change from being donated to a cause you hate! 

I think putting it out there and making a community commitment will ensure I keep going with my writing and thereby pursue one of my important dreams. So, if you are reading and following my challenge and want to send me some encouragement via comments or other means, I would appreciate it! 

Finally, a couple of notes about dates. I thought perhaps I should have started on January 1st for the symbolism. (If you think I should have started on January 1st, 2022, let me know and we will pretend this never happened.)

However, my starting date works for two reasons. First, I actually started writing and moving toward a big dream on that day— and any day proves wonderful for that. 

And second, starting on November 28th means the end of my 365 days will fall the day before Giving Tuesday next year. Otherwise known as, the day I will be a 365-hours-improved writer and hopefully have a small body of work, works in progress, plus this blog to show for it — or the day I will sheepishly and publicly donate to the most repugnant Cause Which Must Not Be Named. 

Also, today’s date, 12/1/21 is a palindrome! I love palindromes and this week is chock full of them! So, yay! I take this as a positive omen from the universe about my new endeavors and I feel glad I woke up this morning.