NaNoWriMo – http://www.nanowrimo.org/
While I’ve already composed a post about NaNoWriMo in the creative writing portion of my blog, I figured that I’d leverage this “Non Sequitur Thursday” post to touch upon it, as well. Because, well, why not?
For a girl who has always wanted to be a published writer, it would make sense that I would participate in National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), right? Well, in the past, I have only gone so far in the past as to consider it and think about how great of an idea it is, but I have yet to actually participate. The closest I ever got was deciding that I would do it, telling a handful of people, and then never sitting down and following through. Not my proudest moment.
This year, however, I am determined to participate. The target word count for the month is 50,000 words. With the help of a calculator (because, yes, I am THAT bad at math), I figured that this is about 1,666/7 words per day. I set a personal goal of at least 1,000 words per day. So far, three days into November, and I’m at roughly 2,689 words. This isn’t horrible. This is relatively close to my personal goal, but I know that I can do better.
Because, apparently, reminding myself that my real goal in life is to publish SOMETHING isn’t enough of a motivator to get me cracking, a friend and I decided to set up a weekly “writing date” in order to get together, check in, and sit together at a location outside of our apartments to write. Tonight was the first date. It went very well! Who would think that writing with a friend in Starbucks would be less distracting than sitting at your desk at home? Certainly not me, but tonight proved it to me. So, to help in keeping this story moving, I think that the key is getting away from the apartment.
And, now, hopefully, since I’ve declared my NaNoWriMo participation twice on my blog, I’ll work extra hard so that I don’t look like a total fool come December 1st. My goal isn’t to completely finish a piece of work by then, but to be close to 50,000 words into a project that, at the end, I can feel proud of.
Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? How do you stay motivated?
If you’re a member on the site – my username is Megan Kate. I’ll see you there!
No Other Appetite 