Being motivated by pizza isn’t anything new for most romance authors of a certain age (cough Millennials cough).

Who among us didn’t LOVE the Pizza Hut reading challenge as kids? An excuse to stay inside and get rewarded for doing what I was going to do anyways? Yes, please. Sign me up.

When I heard about the Pizza for Pages challenge run by Angela James, I jumped on the chance. And I’m so glad I did.

Summer becomes both busier and lazier every year. I don’t know how. With older kids, I’m not really wanted until someone needs a ride or a meal. In theory, I could spend all day writing with only interruptions for sports at night.

But I don’t want to waste these precious days we have together. I don’t want to get to October and be sad we didn’t spend time at the pool or met up with friends for spontaneous get-togethers.

Add in travel to visit family and a vacation, and the time gets squeezed from infinite to finite and it was almost easier in May to write-off June through August and get back to writing in September.

I can’t do that. I’m so glad I didn’t.

My goal was 50,000 words. For me, that’s modest. During the school year, I hit that and then some in a month when actively writing. But with the tight schedule, I didn’t quite make it. I’ll clock in somewhere around 40k.

I didn’t reach the “goal” but I did reenergize my creativity. I am editing several things (yay! my favorite part because it’s when I really start to polish the story, also sometimes the roughest because I’m sharing my work with an editor and it’s a vulnerable spot when the book isn’t the finished product readers receive). In editing mode, I’m critiquing every word choice and sentence.

Writing has to be free flowing. Getting started is hard because I have to shut off the inner editor voice. But once I begin, I start to snowball and the ideas come fast and furious.

Thanks to a dear friend, I wrote most weekdays at a set time. Sprinting with her kept me accountable and motivated even on the days I felt like I “couldn’t” write. Authors, get yourself a community either in-person or virtual or ideally both. I started this journey “officially” in 2015 and would not–7 years later–still be pursuing the work without my writing friends.

I worked on the first in a new trilogy. The series will incorporate something I wrote last year (a fun side project) as book 2 and I have a great start for book 3. I love writing trilogies because I can explore the “world” fully and finish before I get bored with the characters.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy these last moments of summer with my family and feel so grateful for the time together.