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| This dude is Chris Baty, genius extraordinaire. The brains behind NaNoWriMo. |
This was my first official participation in the wonderous writing event, but I had done this before for a novel class with prof. Trembley at Hope College. BEST class of my entire life.
Anyway, let me brag on NaNoWriMo for a second. I just finished two days ago and I am already excited to do it again next year. If any of you have ever thought, "Oh, I'd like to write a book one day..." do this!! Talking about it gets you nowhere but with empty pages and wasted ideas. And if you do it during NaNoWriMo, you have a whole community of people in the same boat as you with lives that are just as busy as your life.
Quite a few people who asked why I was even doing this asked me what happens at the end. Do I get my name out there? Do I win any money? Do they pick a top ten?
The answer to all of those is no. The spirit of NaNoWriMo is not to beat anyone else, it is not to make a monetary profit, it is not even to write a good book.
Here's the deal with this: You're supposed to open yourself to the experience of proving that you can find time everyday to sit down (or stand) and write. Be creative! Go crazy. It's about creating something that you don't have time for. Everyone is busy, but we can't let that stand in the way.
This past November was the craziest month of my life, and it would have been if I didn't participate in NaNoWriMo. But I did. I have the web badge to prove it.
It was hard. There were a few days in the middle where I didn't write at all. (I paid for that later with a few 5,000 word days.) And I didn't even get a very good start. But I learned so much about the writing process and what I am capable of. For instance, I thought I could only do a thousand words in an hour...UNTIL I was down to the final two hours and had 3,100 words to go. I finished all of those words with a half hour to spare. It was the most intense focus I have ever experienced in my life. And even though I had winged the majority of this book, it even all tied together in the end. Bonus: I was happy with the way it ended. I suck at endings!
I learned how to make richer images in my scenes because when you have to write so much in such a short amount of time, you really look for ways to pad the story. I painted vivid images with the strokes of my keys and it actually turned out to be better than just padding. It was something I wasn't very good at before, and now I can take that new skill and apply it to the novel I've been working on.
And I won! On November 30, 2011. Everyone who finished on time won. The people who didn't finish still won, in a different way, because they took a step to begin a novel, which is more than most people who say they'll "one day" write a book do. Bravo to all who started! Bravo to those who finished!
I almost quit near the end. There was one day my boyfriend, Gary, was over and all I wanted to do was cuddle and watch TV with him, but I hadn't written yet and I knew I needed to. I told him I didn't have any words left in me, but he pushed me to write just five hundred. In frustration, I dug my nails into my hands and then did so. Five hundred words came out slowly, but then the next thing I knew, I had written 1,500 and still had steam. My sister, Jen, also hounded me (pretty much daily) to quit playing Sims or get off Facebook, or stop doing whatever else and write. Getting started is always the worst part, and I'm thankful for the people like Gary and Jen who push me to do what they know I can when I think I can't. I thank every one else who encouraged me along the way, too. I won't name names because this month was a wild blur, and I don't want to leave anyone out because then I'd feel bad.
Then there was someone who agreed with me, at one time toward the end, that I probably couldn't do it, and that was all it took to set me back on fire. I wrote a note of what that person said and tacked it onto my writing board. Then right next to that note, I tacked on one of my own that said "I can make this a reality. In God I have all the rest I need." Above that is a quote I've had on my writing board for quite some time. It's from a Flyleaf song called Believe in Dreams. "Believe in dreams you love so much. Let the passion of your heart make them real." Here's the song if you'd like to have a listen.
The point of this blog post is to encourage you to push through and do what you're passionate about! The best things are the hardest things, most often, because we are pushed and pulled and we grow tired and have to find some kind of strength to keep going. If we quit when we're tired then what do we have? Keep going! You'll find out you can do incredible things you never imagined. Find people that will encourage you. Find out why that thing is important to you and never let that go. Remind yourself of it often. Enjoy moments of relaxation because rest is important, too, just don't stay down and let your dream float on by. Now is the time. 