I have signed up for NaNoWritMo, and for those of you who have no idea what that means, allow me to fill you in and introduce you to my new jargon. ?First of NaNoWritMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, which takes place in November. ?The goal is to write 50,000 (or more) words for a novel in ONE MONTH!
In the midst of my Halloween preparations I’ve been working on my pre-writing. ?That means plotting, and character sketching. ?I worked out quite a bit, but I’m not quite ready. ?I probably won’t be until I’m actually writing, which I’m itching to do.
Because this is about getting it out, I know this will be a complete rough draft of anything I come up with, but the glory of that is that it will be a complete rough draft. ?As in, there will be a story from beginning to end to clean up and polish. ?(Yes, I’m thoroughly counting on being able to do that and not scrap the finished project.)
This may be somewhat overly hopeful, but that’s where I’m working from anyway. ?I have to start with some preconceptions or I won’t do it. ?And I intend to finish. ?I am in it to win it, but finishing is my main goal. ?Winning would be a total bonus.
Writing is my passion. ?I’m always writing something, or thinking about writing something. ?My muse is rarely silent for very long. ?Usually she is whispering vague hints or?commanding?me with whip in hand. ?I sacrifice many a pen on the alter of ideas.
I should mention that this is my first time doing NaNoWritMo. ?Notice I said doing and not attempting? ?This is because of the afore mentioned intention to finish. ?When finishing is your goal as Master Yoda would say “Do or do not. ?There is no try.” ?Using the word try is like giving yourself permission to quit, like showing yourself the exit before you’ve even really walked through the entrance. ?When we say we tried something we usually mean we weren’t really invested in it to begin with. ?At least when we fail we were unsuccessful because we didn’t have the skill necessary or others proved more skilled, and we came out learning something, not because we quit. ?At least, that is how I view things for myself.
So now I get back to pre-writing and preparing. ?I only have 7 more days to get things together.
What about you? ?Are you planning on joining NaNoWritMo?
*Photo: Writing Tools by peteoshea, obtained through Flickr.
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