We interupt these revisions to bring you...WIPadise!!

So the lovely and talented Ms. Sara McClung (who very generously sent me a Borders gift card just because I psycho-tweeted about her contest, and sent along some adorable ladybug bookmarks to go with it) is holding a Saradise for herself, wherein she commits to making writing her priority for the rest of February. She invited some of her blog followers to join her, and by-golly, we did!! (Wow, the lack of activities aside from revising is really getting to my head.)

I am pretty stoked about this whole thing. It's nice to have other people on board with me; that's part of the reason I was so successful during NaNoWriMo. Also, Heathadise doesn't sound quite as good as Saradise, so I named my own version WIPadise...which I love because it sounds like I'm cracking the whip!!!

Tonight, I accomplished the following things:

1. Finished revisions on the first four chapters, including all the major rewrites suggested from my workshop (OMG THIS WAS SO HARD.)
2. Ignored my husband when he asked to play Mario Wii with me (ALSO HARD. But the focus of this month is writing, not Mario. This is not Mariodise, it's WIPadise.)
3. I didn't watch any episodes of LOST, even though I've been watching old ones for clues to the new season. My resolve might not be so great when my new Dexter disc comes, but that's not for two days.
4. Before I go to sleep tonight, I will be sending my first few chapters to my critique partner, and I know she's very excited to get the pages, and will be waiting with bated breath for them. (I might be exaggerating here, but I have been making her wait since before the conference because I am very mean.)

This is really a lot, and I'm hoping to keep up the momentum and have first-round edits done by the end of the month! Maybe I can even get ahead of schedule, get some comments back, and start on the second round!! Oo!! I'm being ambitious. (But seriously, all you people almost ready to query makes me a little jealous. I know I can't rush it. But still. Jealous.) I do have a lot of days off, though, thanks to furloughs, Preisdent's Day, etc.

The point of all this, whether or not you're one of the lucky few who are participating in the event, is that it's important to set aside some time for yourself every now and then to just write. Dedicate yourself to the craft that you love. Shun things like TV, video games, showering, etc. (I think I've mentioned the showering thing before. I'm cool if none of you shower. We're Internet friends, after all.) Just remember that the more you write, the more you grow, so you won't become a better writer unless you WRITE.

Finally, something to get all of us Saradise/WIPadise/Whatever-dise people in the mood...and a fun song for the rest of you:

I was totally in a production of Footloose in high school. No, I did not play Ariel. I was Ren's mom, because clearly when I was 17 I could play a convincing 40-year-old. I do have a tape of the event, but fortunately for you me, it's not on a DVD and therefore can never be put online for Heather Shame. (Don't get any ideas, Frankie/Shannon/people that dare.) 

Now you can officially put me in a game of six degrees of Kevin Bacon.