December is here, and that means National Novel Writing Month is finished.
After watching the excitement over NaNoWriMo for years on social media and in
Writer's Digest articles, I decided to sign up...
Being a "Wrimo" means you write every day. Every. Day. Even if the
laundry hamper is overflowing. Even if the dust in your living room is an inch
thick. Or if something dire and unexpected happens that you absolutely
cannot write a word (in my case a broken molar) you have to catch up in
sprints. Or else you start to get the shakes. You start to feel guilty. You
start to feel like something is missing.
Why?
Because NaNoWriMo makes writing a part of your daily habits, like brushing
your teeth or exercising (well...for some...I count going up and down two
flights of stairs with laundry as exercise). We become writers out of passion and inspiration. But we stay writers out of habit, because it becomes an intrinsic part of us as much as
eating and breathing.
Dip into that creative well at least once a day and bring up some magic!
Today is December 1st, and I was looking forward to the time to clean up the
house, decorate for Christmas some more, tackle some of the tasks that have
been a bit neglected (or done hastily, a lick and a promise). What am I doing? Writing about NaNoWriMo. Why? Because my hands began to twitch.
I had to write SOMETHING today.
Even though my Nano first
draft is finished at 30K words. (Huzzah! I'm still in shock!) It's not 50K, so
I don't officially win, but honestly I feel like a winner nonetheless. I sat
down to write almost every day, and I completed a first draft of a story that
became more than I expected it to. I proved to myself that I can write 10,000
words in one week. I proved to myself that I can finish a draft in a shorter
time than 4 months (that's how long
The Dragon's Message took me).
I learned that if I just keep writing (don't stop to revise, don't stop,
just keep typing just keep typing, don't you look back...) the characters
and story magic will take over organically. I learned to trust in my
imagination a little more, and I was rewarded now and again by those plot epiphanies that flood your mind with a light that lasts throughout the day.
Most of all, NaNoWriMo helped me to
give myself the permission to make my
writing time part of my daily routine. I had a definitive goal, a real
deadline. And for that, NaNoWriMo is one of the best things that has happened
to my career as a writer. I am proud to be a Wrimo!
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