Here’s a challenge you may be interested in! It’s the Get it Done! 2011 Summer Challenge from the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors [NAIWE].

The rules are simple and the benefit is high — sounds great, right! So read on to find out what I’m bargaining with myself to get done this summer. Below, I’ll share with you the link to Karen Barnes, where I read the challenge.

From NAIWE:

There are three parts to the challenge:

1. Read three books that will stretch your mind and inspire your creative spirit.
2. Finish one project that’s been nagging at you for longer than you care to admit.
3. Brainstorm a new project that will bring you an additional stream of income, then take the first step to make it happen.

Lately, I haven’t been sticking with much, due to intense time constraints. So, it’s a good time for me to re-group and re-orient my attentions on what is important to me. I will use this as one of my summer incentives to work differently.

Other steps – post the challenge to your website along with a link back to the challenge post; add the challenge badge (like the one above) to your site; post a comment in the challenge post with your site’s URL and your all set. Click on the badge above to go right to the challenge details on the NAIWE site.

Here’s my Plan

For reading: I want to read What we Ache For by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. I read it some years ago, and I think it may be time for a refresher. Since it’s a re-read, I decided to red three others. Mine are books from the genres I want to write in, fiction and poetry.

1. Open House by Elizabeth Berg
2. The House by Danielle Steel
3. Thirst, poems by Mary Oliver

Finish one project: There is a poetry collection I’ve been working on‐more like iffing at. It would be good to get it out of my head and onto paper—or my computer. It’s one of several that have been festering without going away fully.

Brainstorm a new project: I have these novel ideas—not new but constantly being added to. And I think that’s what I need to finish a novel draft (something I’ve wanted to do but never went through). It seems like I have enough in my head to brainstorm a full plot and I want to try this summer.

If You’re Sold…

Get involved: Read the NAIWE challenge post, follow the instructions to post their badge and leave a comment with your URL, and you’re in.

Another Participant: Even though I get the NAIWE newsletter, I don’t always read it in a timely manner. I read about the challenge first, from Karen Barnes, on Change the World with Words, here.