I just signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, the summertime version of NaNoWriMo (which occurs every November). NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is self-inflicted torture for writers. Its premise is simple and yet Herculean–write a 50,000 word novel, start to finish, in one month. I created my NaNoWriMo account years ago, and a couple of those years I actually got pretty far into the process before giving it up as a lost cause. Most years I didn’t participate at all, realizing as the calendar headed toward November that I simply had too much already scheduled to reasonably have a chance at reaching the goal.
My current writing project is based on local (northeastern PA) history and is heavy on research. Lately, most of the hours spent at my writing desk have been spent chasing down research leads with little actual writing (mostly scribbling of notes).
I’m looking forward to the frightening. exhilarating, writing by the seat of your pants experience which is NaNoWriMo. Having a target goal of 1,667 words per day for a whole month helps you to ignore your internal editor, that voice in your head that keeps a running monologue going about how your writing is a big hot mess.
How hopeful am I that I’ll reach the goal this time? Skeptically, moderately hopeful. I’ll take time these next couple of days to create a rough outline, character sketches, etc. The hubster and I moved recently to a place that is small, temporary and in the messy middle of our efforts at renovation. And yet, it lends itself to inspiration. Maybe dangling the “carrot” of a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio on the porch, watching the sun set with a view of the river in the distance at the end of the writing day will be enough incentive to reach those daily word counts. If it isn’t, I’ll have to figure out a big enough “stick” to keep my nose to the writing grindstone.
Note to self–another task to be completed prior to the start of Camp NaNoWriMo: make sure there’s enough Pinot on hand for my glass of daily reward for the month of July.
ChessieWriter 