Reporting by Marilyn Levinson

Reporting is what I do every evening when I finish writing my WIP for the day. I jot down the number of words I've written plus the page I'm up to and the total number of words in the manuscript I've written so far and email it to two friends who are fellow mystery authors. I receive a similar email from them as well.

We're not in competition with one another, trying to write the most words each day. We're all at various stages of very different projects: a short story, outlining a suspense novel, and writing a book in a cozy series. In fact, we have no problem announcing that we didn't write one word that day because life took over and demanded that we babysit or see a doctor or run several chores instead.

Though the three of us are part of a small group of mystery writers that's constantly communicating about every conceivable topic, writerly and otherwise, reporting is something else. We find that checking in every evening is a valuable writing tool. It helps take away some of the loneliness of writing we all experience. We share minor victories that only our fellow mystery writers can truly appreciate. Like figuring out a complicated plot problem, and coming up with a new way of offing a victim. The best part is that we cheer each other on. And for some reason,  this often encourages us to write a little more each day than perhaps we thought we could.