The #nanowillow Positivity Challenge

The second November challenge I chose to participate in is hosted by my friend Elzevera Koendrick. She created a forum called 'Under the Willow' for writers and editors, and you can join in if you like. The first photo is the challenge she created, linked to her IG profile. You can check out her invitation to join the group and read about it here on IG. You can also join the group by clicking here. I've linked the photo below to her website.

Week 1

Today's blog post snuck up on me and the weather is progressively getting worse so I'm simply going to share my photos for these challenges. If you'd like to read more about any one of them, visit my Instagram profile - @MKRMAuthor. This challenge was hosted by Elzevera Koendrik on the Under the Willow writers forum, which you can join if you like. You can also find her related posts on her IG profile. If you're a writer, her posts are always encouraging and helpful.

• Day 1 - Tell us about your project.
• Day 2 - Why is writing important to you?
• Day 3 - What's a recent writing accomplishment you're proud of?
• Day 4 - What do you love most about your main character?
• Day 5 - What do you love most about your world?
• Day 6 - Share your biggest writing dream.
• Day 7 - If you made that dream a reality, what would that look like?

Those are only the first seven days and you can see how the variety of prompts help you consider the big picture. I find this challenge is helping me stay motivated to keep working, even when I'm struggling, like right now.

Week 2

• Day 8 - Where do you see yourself in five years? - Our youngest will be a senior and I will have published another five books, if I can maintain my current writing schedule.
  
• Day 9 - What advice would 80-year-old you give to present you? - Slow down a bit more and enjoy the truly important things.
• Day 10 - How will you maintain your writing goals? - Just keep writing.
• Day 11 - What's your Nanowrimo self-care plan? - Eat healthier, get exercise, break smarter.
• Day 12 - What's one good thing that happened today? - I met my personal word count goal of 3337 words. It's the only day during this set of days in which I did so. But the week was definitely a struggle so I'm glad for that victory.
  
• Day 13 - Tell us about your Nano support crew. - I've answered this one so many times but I've found the Under the Willow forum and the Plotter Life Writing Group to be super helpful and encouraging during Nano and the rest of the year. I've also found a good source of encouragement in our regional Nano group, as well as a couple of Discord writing groups. And my family and friends are always encouraging me to keep going.
• Day 14 - What's your biggest motivation right now? - Winning in spite of myself. I really am my own worst enemy when it comes to the word 'schedule'. There some kind of serious mental block that I keep trying to hack away. I never quite seem to succeed. :/

Week 3

• Day 15 - Halfway there! What are you proud of having accomplished so far?
  
• Day 16 - What do you love most about this stage of the writing process?
  
• Day 17 - What are you grateful for right now?
  
• Day 18 - What's one problem you thankfully don't have?
  
• Day 19 - What are you holding on to that you could let go of?
  
• Day 20 - What was fantastic about today?
  
• Day 21 - What went better than expected?

Week 4

• Day 22 - What went better than expected?
  
• Day 23 - Share something that surprised you today.
  
• Day 24 - What did you learn today?
  
• Day 25 - What are your strengths?
  
• Day 26 - What kind of impact do you want to have?
  
• Day 27 - What will you do once Nanowrimo is over?
  
• Day 28 - What did you love most about participating in Nanowrimo 2018?
  
• Day 29 - When you look back on this last month, what are you most proud of?
  
• Day 30 - Share your final celebration!

And now for the slideshow!