NaNoWriMo and Beating My Exceptionally Short Attention Span
The month of November marks National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to start a novel from scratch, and meet the 50,000 word goal. Every year since the beginning of my time blogging (ten years now) I have said I am going to partake in this challenge, and have yet to even begin. 50,000 words in one month? Gah! That’s 1,666 words per day! Who has that kind of time? Who has that kind of dedication?! More importantly… who has that kind of attention span?
What it really boils down to is that I don’t. At least, I don’t think I do. Or, that I didn’t. In my head is the next Great American Story, and day after day, year after year, it stays there. Cozy in the dark, squishy recesses of my brain. Blogging works for me because it is something I do when I feel I have something interesting, amusing, or even nonsensical to say. I will write every day for a week, and disappear for a couple of months. No matter how many times I tell myself I am going to blog every day, it never happens. Why? Because I don’t want to bore the masses with garbage. I want what I say to matter. So this year, I have decided that while I may not meet the 50,000 word challenge, I am going to use November as the jumping off point. The motivation that I need to start the novel I have been saying I am going to write someday. The next few weeks I will spend thinking of what I want to say, and what message I want to get across, and making notes on paper napkins wherever I happen to be. Do I write a fiction novel, full of bad ass characters that I wish I could be? Do I write about my relatively entertaining and nothing short of dramatic teenage years (or do I save my dear Mother that heart attack)? Do I write about the life of someone else? I don’t know. But, I guess we’re going to find out.
So to those of you who have been encouraging me to do this for years now… well, it’s all your fault. Just keep that in mind when I make you stumble through it. Oh, and thanks.
If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo or have other experience as a writer, I would love to hear your thoughts and your process. If you’re an avid reader, I would love to know what it is about your favorite books that make them so amazing.
jack of all t(i)rades 