At heart, I am a person with a huge tendency to say "yes" far more often than "no." While that was a fairly entertaining character trait for both me and anyone around me in my younger, wilder and prettier days, now that I'm a responsible adult I most often find myself saying "yes" to things that require work and effort. And while I do say "no" more often these days than in the past, I've learned to do so primarily so I can put more energy into those projects for which I say "yes."
So this year I've decided to say "yes" to November's National Novel Writing Month, an annual event where thousands of people attempt to write a 50,000-word-minimum first draft of a novel over the course of 30 days. Whether this is a wise decision on my part will be seen come Nov. 30, when I hope to have dragged my tired, aching fingers across the metaphorical finish line.
There are reasons I've chosen to take the plunge this year. First, I've already moved forward with publishing my collection of essays -- Boy Does World, which will be out in early 2010, and you'll be hearing a lot more from me about it before then -- so I'm thinking about I want to do next. Second, writing a novel, whether published or not (though preferably published, of course), is on my list of life goals. And third, while I've started a couple novels in the past, almost 40,000 words worth in one case, I've not actually finished one.
It's the search for a finish that attracted me to NaNoWriMo, as they quirkily abbreviate it. I have a tendency with longer formats to spend a lot of time looking and backwards and forwards in my manuscript, agonizing over particular choices and plot points and structural strategies, and generally bogging myself down to the point of frustration. Plus, novels generally have no deadline (unless you've managed to sell an unfinished one), and deadlines have a marvelously and creatively clarifying effect on my mind.
The NaNoWriMo approach is just to get it out, quantity over quality, a shift in my usual approach. Well, my usually usual approach -- lord knows my blog posts could sometimes use a second (or third) glance before clicking "publish." But the idea is to just get it out and tell the story, errors and questions be damned, and worry about all the particulars when editing it later for a second draft. It's around 2,000 words a day to reach my own personal goal, a number that always sounds formidable but a word count I've grown accustomed to meeting in my everyday professional life, so I shouldn't be too shocked by the volume.
The other key to making it through the month is telling everyone I know that I'm doing it so I can set myself up for shame-faced embarrassment should I not reach my goal. So, feel free to ask me how it's going, what my word count is, if I think I'm going to make it. I won't mind, even if I act like I do. Just don't ask me to tell you what I'm writing -- for now, that's going to be my own little secret.
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