RTW: Rewards

Road Trip Wednesday is a blog carnival, where YA Highway’s contributors and readers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s take on the topic.

This week’s prompt was: How do you reward yourself when you meet your writing goals?

I know there are word count goals and figuring-out-annoying-plot-problems goals, but I really only reward myself after the first draft and then after each time I edit.* I’m okay with being a reward miser. I’m pretty sure I’d get nothing accomplished if I didn’t have a giant goal to work toward.

When I finished the first draft of my current WIP back in January I celebrated with cookies or cupcakes and the return of Fringe. I wore pajamas. Life was good.

Now that I’m revising rewriting—yes I’m still revising rewriting that same first draft—I’ve decided to switch things up. No, this has nothing to do with the fact that Fringe is over for the season.

I’ve given up sugar since I last celebrated, so a dessert feast was out. And then it hit me…
Since the dawn of time (like, more than a year ago) I’ve been dying to read Divergent. I entered approximately 2.4 million contests to win it so I could read it early. I lost each one. Finally, my copy shipped. It’s here, sitting on my bookshelf, staring me in the face like, “You said you wanted to read me so bad, so do it! I’m tired of sitting here so stiff and unused. OPEN ME UP AND FRICKIN’ READ ME!!!!”**

But then I couldn’t read it. If I did, it’d be over and the experience of reading it the first time would be done. Also, I hear it’s really great, so I’m sure I’ll feel crappy about my book once I’m done, making it almost impossible to work on my book. And, more importantly, it was one hell of a motivator to finish these revisions.

So that will be my reward.

What’s yours?

*But if the glorious day comes when I get an agent or a book deal, you better believe I’ll be popping the Champagne.
**Obviously the book isn’t part of the Abnegation faction.