The not-writing jar

Before I explain the not-writing jar, as I promised I would in last night's post, I have some administrative details to get out of the way.

First: to the individuals googling whether "let it be" is bad grammar or not, and who stumbled across my blog without getting an answer, it's perfectly correct, and I don't know why it wouldn't be. It's only incorrect if you use "it" to denote a "her," "him," or "them."

Second: I'm looking forward to my post on Tuesday, February 28th, and I'm not telling you why. You'll just have to wait and find out. I think you'll like it.

Third: if you've been thinking about reading Mira Grant's Feed, this is a good month to do it, because then you can join the readalong. I know I already posted about it, but I wanted to make sure you know that you're welcome to join in, whether you have your own blog or not.

Onto the tale of the not-writing jar.

It was my husband's inspiration. He brought it to the first SWAG write-in (SWAG being our writing group). If people needed an incentive to be writing rather than browsing the free wifi or chatting with all the other writers, the not-writing jar was there to ask for pocket change if you strayed. It's on the honor system; only you know if you're writing when you're supposed to be, or if you've failed. It's there as a way of reminding us that, while write-ins are a good way of making writing a social activity, we're still there to be productive.

And, up until last night's write-in, it was not mandatory. For this month, it is, because we're all trying to succeed at our SWANoWriMo goals.

I can't speak for the rest of the giggly crew, but it helped me. I may have taken some time to type up last night's blog post, and I lost my focus a few times, but I still added over 2300 words to my novel during the write-in. The jar took in $16.83 from six writers, and I personally contributed $3.00.

We don't have the money earmarked for anything, but I'm sure we can figure out something fun.