I haven’t been on here to post in a while because I’ve been working on my story for NaNoWriMo and I have been working on the journal and going to class. The last month has been one of the busiest months I’ve ever had in my life. Launch night for the journal is next week and school ends in a couple of weeks. I’ve been running around (in my head) doing everything to get the journal to the printer on time which meant making sure it is typeset correctly and that everything looks great. While also making sure I stayed on top of my school work for my senior seminar class.
I have no clue how I actually completed the NaNoWriMo challenge. I won! I wrote over 50,000 words in one month. I am so proud of myself because it is a lot harder than you could ever imagine. I thought it was going to be fairly easy because I love to write. I write all the time but I do not write every day. I take days off from writing. Sometimes there are multiple days or whole weeks where I don’t write. With this challenge if you do that you will fall behind and be in danger of not finishing. I did miss days sometimes when life got in the way and had to go into overdrive to catch up. There were two days back-to-back where I wrote 3,606 words and 4,298 words (I kept a log of how many words I was writing per day) because I had been slacking. To complete this successfully you have to write like 1,600+ words a day. And I did that. Some days were better than others of course but it was so much fun the do. I was so focused on getting it done.
There was this feeling of accomplishment when I submitted my word count for verification. And then when I received my certificate it was even more validation and proof that I actually did it. It was like setting a goal and completing that goal. I set out to complete something and I actually did it. Sometimes I make promises to myself or set goals and I don’t follow through. I always feel like a failure when that happens so to actually complete something gave me this immense pride that is undeniable. On top of that I got a story out of it. I finished a complete manuscript in one month. This experience has taught me that if I buckle down and really put my all into it and stick by the small, daily goals I’ve set for myself I can accomplish anything. I can write a manuscript in a month or two if I just focused and put everything into it.
It was so much fun to participate in NaNoMoWri and I will do it again next year. Anybody who is a writer or aspiring to be a writer should also participate. It is a great challenge to see what you can do and if you can motivate yourself to write every day. Because ideas and inspiration take time off when you’re trying to write. This challenge forces you to plow through that and keep writing. The mantra for everyone during NaNoMoWri should be “Just keep writing,” in your Dory voice. So much fun and rewarding. I can’t wait until next November so I can do this again. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be writing in the meantime. Just not the breakneck writing that’s required during this. Great, great experience.
~Teralyn
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