First Annual BookFast

The one piece of writerly advice I hear the most is: "Read. Read all the time." This is all well and good, but when a writer spends their writing time reading, complications ensue (like, say, no writing gets done).

This is a big issue for me. I'll have free time and take my writing pad/laptop and latest read to the couch. I look at the writing. I look at the book. Then I snuggle down into the couch and read. And no writing gets done. Soon I find that I haven't written a single word all week, and my WIP languishes.

So, beginning this Sunday for a week, I am giving up reading.

Yep, you read that right. No reading for a whole week.

*all writer/reader friends gasp in horror* *several pass out* *smelling salts are passed around*

I have a WIP to finish, darn it, and reading all my free time away won't get it written! So it's time for drastic measures.
 

The BookFast will run seven days, from this coming Sunday to Saturday, thereby giving me the long weekend to catch up on my reading as a reward. (I originally pondered doing it for a whole month, but the very thought gave me heart palpitations. So I'm going to try a week and see how it goes.) A breakdown of my required daily word count for the week is:

• Mon/Wed/Fri: 500 words
• Sun/Tues/Thurs/Sat: 1,000 words

It's not a lot, but it's what I know I can handle - and it's infinitely more than I'm getting down right now.

And I'm not going to give up all reading. That would kill me. I am allowed to read two things:

• Research (aka non-fiction, for Project P only); and
• Project P (the WIP I will be working on).

This will keep me on track and always in the mindset of the story.

And, if I make the day's word count, there will be a reward: one short story from The Curiosities! So I'm not totally cutting myself off from fiction, which should keep me sane enough.

I will probably go dark for the week blog-wise, but I will Tweet updates (@skyelyte), and I will post about the experience afterwards. I'm calling this my "First Annual" BookFast because I think it will prove really good for me, and I'll probably do it again if it goes as well as I think it will.

Wish me luck!

(And if you want to join me, let me know and we can encourage each other!)