T Minus 10 Days to NaNoWriMo. I
intend to participate this year, but I haven’t yet declared my commitment.
Because I’m afraid.
Last year, I fell into NaNoWriMo
when my manager/friend convinced me to go to a writing group. It turned out to
be a NaNoWriMo writing group. In the two hours I was there, I convinced myself
that I should give it a shot, even jotting down some ideas. However, I wasn’t
driven, organized or prepared at all.
When I
got a second job a week before November (and went from working 35 hours to 50
hours a week), the NaNoWriMo idea flew out the window into the chilly autumn
air. Having two jobs was an excuse, and I took it.
Now
October has come again and NaNoWriMo is approaching (again). I’m still hesitant
to commit. Because I will likely fail. The
fear of failure is using my writing soul as its squeeze toy. But my fear is
based on an unsettling truth. My best week of writing has produced 3000 words.
To be a NaNoWriMo winner, I have to average 12000 words per week (to meet the goal of
50000 words in 30 days.) That’s a 400% improvement. Can I do it?
Can I, for the first time, make a
solid commitment to a month long writing lifestyle and meet a word count goal and
end with a rough, unedited, probably horrendous draft?
In two
weeks, I’ll know. Because if I can’t manage to write at least 10000 words in
the first week, it’s hard to recover from (or so I hear). In the meantime, I’ll
organize and outline and plan scenes and flesh out characters and imagine
settings. I’ll try to prepare myself.
Ten
days until November.
Ten
days until NaNoWriMo.
Ten
days until the writing blitz of my life.
I've still never done NaNoWriMo... not sure if it's fear of failure, or just that I don't feel the need to freak about that many words per day. Writing a novel in two-three years is enough pressure for me!
ReplyDeleteIf you go for it, have fun and be productive.
You can do this. You can do this!
ReplyDeleteA challenge that scares you is going to be more worthwhile to attempt than one you're indifferent or confident about. Tell your fear of failure to find a new chew toy and throw yourself into the writing. I just looked at the website--perfection isn't required, right? You may come out of this thinking that your rough, unedited, probably horrendous draft is the most beautiful thing you've ever beheld. :-)
Someone once told me that the first order of business in writing something isn't necessarily to write it but to "get in written." This event should help you with that.
ReplyDeleteAnd 50k words in a month (<2k a day if you divide it out) is quite easy if you can find a way to replace the constipation that over-thinking causes with the diarrhea that comes with thinking less and writing more.
Not easy to do, I know. I'm not particularly good myself at writing with a wreckless disregard for how it sounds. I wish I was. That way I would have tons more rough draft material to overthink, overanalyze and overedit.