I’m pretty sure I’m crazy. I decided to do National Novel Writing Month this year. Just a day and a half until the first day of November, when I will hypothetically begin my journey of sleepless nights and sore wrists and computer eye strain. Like I don’t spend enough time in front of the computer already.
The goal is 50,000 words in one month. That’s 1,666 words per day, which actually seems pretty manageable….for someone without a day job. But once I start subtracting time for my full-time job, commuting from Oakland to San Francisco every day, sleeping, cooking, eating, taking a shower, and taking my dog for a walk, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for writing. Not to mention social activities, relaxing, exercise, random chores, etc.
What have I done?
Luckily, I already have an outline and around 24,000 words for my next novel. Is that cheating? Sure is, and I’m proud of it. I’ve never been much for following other people’s rules.
My own self-inflected rules–well, that’s another story. So I’m using NaNoWriMo to give myself permission to be messy and imperfect, to starve my inner critic for a while and just write write, write, with no editing along the way. I’m even going to attempt to stop myself from reading each chapter when I finish it. Am I going to write 1,666 words every single day? Probably not. I’m a strong believer in balance, and I’d probably go crazy if I didn’t leave some room in my schedule for my friends and my sweetie, for running and reading, for So You Think You Can Dance and Glee. But I’m going to write a lot. Maybe even get a rough draft of my next novel out of it. I hope.
Wish me luck!
(Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Be my writing buddy! You can find me as amyreedfiction)
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