The Gauntlet Challenge

So I cuffed the gauntlet across the Facebook profiles of Debi and Juli. Writers extraordinaire.  Don’t believe me, go take a look at their blogs: The Pen Whore and Pages. Awesome stuff right there huh?


I think they’re both amazing writers - very talented indeed. But like me, and probably other writers, I think we need fires bonfires (burn baby burn) lit under our keesters to get us going; hence the heavy-handed gauntlet thwacking that made some eyes roll backwards right into their heads. (Juli take note)


What it is, and what it all boils down to is this…c’mon people say the word with me - procrastination. That’s the fancy pant, ten cent word for laziness. Yeah, I said it. Laziness. Admit it – we all go there. We languish in Lake Lethargy, hoping it will take us to the Ocean of Oomph. We all make excuses. Hell, I’m the Queen of it. All hail Queen Procrastination of Fiction Land - bow down and bring me chocolates (Lindt dark chocolate truffles please).


It’s not that I don’t have good intentions. I do! (Really, I do.) Every day I start out with a “To Do” list, and writing is on it, I swear. I just don’t know what happens – well, I do but I really don’t want to admit that I’m a Facebook junkie and that I’ve been reading more than I’ve been writing. Time just slips away. One minute I’m thinking, ok I’ll finish this and then I’ll start editing (or writing) and next thing you know, bob’s yer uncle and it’s time for bed. I dunno people…I’m trying.


I said to myself that I would finish editing two books before the first of the year then I would begin a new story, or finish one of the other ones. And now I sit here in worse shape than I ever was. I’m a round shape, and I’m not liking it at all, not one bit. I need to slenderize (in more ways than one). To do this I need to bring in my critters, my pack, mi amigos – my friends.

Let’s face it, only friends are allowed to crit you, by rolling their eyes, throwing up their hands (you like that one huh Juli), and only they can get away with it. They will keep you on the straight and narrow, or sit in the same boat on Lake Lethargy yelling, “Where’s the rum?”

First up, I must fix my blog. I have two blogs one for my writing and the other is for music meanderings. I need to separate them, and I have. (Yay me!)  Second thing, I need to post blogs. Yeah, post a blog Steph - HA! (Ummm, that was my muse being sarcastic-don’t mind her) Post blogs? That means - gasp - I have to write. Hahahahaha snicker chortle guffaw hahahaha (my muse laughing)

I found that I do better when challenged. (Seriously, I do) When I’m forced to produce something…anything, it appears I can actually write. Now that’s where mi amigo’s come in. I need to get them off Lake Lethargy and out of the boat (leaving the rum behind). We all need to swim in the Ocean of Oomph and be revitalized. But how? Well, I grabbed a gauntlet from a medieval page and thwacked Juli and Debi for starters. I am sure in turn they will thwack others and soon we’ll be a pack of bitches chucking a mean wallop at each other, hoping to win the Gauntlet Challenge. I so want to win…to have such amazing bragging rights.

Yeah, Queen Procrastination of Fiction Land wants bragging rights – she’s due.



**  This particular post is part of the Writer's Gauntlet Challenge among my crit group, an exercise to keep us writing, thinking and being creative. Other Gauntlet entries can be found at The Pen Whore and Pages.