#$10novel – Day 3 – Starting (also, Novelburns)

I need a mantra.

I think i can, i think i can, i think i can!

Day Three: Monday, May 18th: Amal El-Mohtar

I’ll mail or Paypal Amal $10 if i fail to get my wordcount up to 26,000 words by the time i get to sleep tonight.

Look for updates on Twitter. Hmmm … don’t know what Amal will use the money for. Good or Evil?

[UPDATE]: Amal will use the money for good! She’ll use it to purchase poetry for her awesome journal Goblin Fruit! If i weren’t so poor, i’d be inclined to throw in for today. (note: as of 1:30pm, still have 1300 words to write.)

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So, Em was chastising me because all of my motivations on this challenge are punitive. She says i need positive reinforcement too. Maybe that means she’ll buy me a pizza when i’m done. 😛

[UPDATE]: A pizza has been offered! (Hee hee hee, the power of hint-dropping.)

Anyway, this got me thinking …

… and i’ve come up with another negative reinforcement tool.

As i look at the novel ahead, i think it’s just going to get harder and harder as i venture into the disastrous and vague second and third acts. I think the people who picked the later dates are a lot more likely to receive their fabulous cash prizes.

So i needed to think of something that was so unacceptable, so intolerable to do to myself that i’d really want to get to “the end” to undo it. Something horrible.

I think i’ve found it.

Sideburns.

I’m going to grow sideburns, and i’m not allowed to shave them off till i finish the novel and send it to at least one initial reader.

I’m calling them Novelburns.

Please help me.