It is June 30, 2017 and this is the year I want to write a
novel. No, I am going to write a novel.
If you’re not already aware, July is Camp NaNoWriMo month and tens of thousands
of people will gather in their homes, local Starbucks, and libraries to come up
with the next great classic (or just a smutty romance novel, but no shame). I
first discovered NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo (for the record, that is hell to
type out more than once in a paragraph) back in 2013, and it’s been a personal
challenge to complete a novel in this 31
day ‘challenge.’ I use challenge loosely here because it’s a personal
challenge, not an actual competition against my fellow writers.
So here I sit, writing a blog post instead of a book
outline, contemplating how to write a ‘real book.’ What does that even mean? I
think I’ve personally stigmatized writing for the sake of creating a document,
and writing a purely planned piece of fiction. But does there really have to be
a difference? I’d like to think that a book is a book is a book, but I haven’t
sat down to write anything of substance in years due to the fact that I’m
afraid it won’t be beautiful, thought-provoking, or right. Well, let this post be proof to the fact that July 2017 will
be the year I write a book (or at least a several page document that will lead
me to truly becoming the writer I want to become)!
How does one become an accomplished* writer?
*Accomplished here used in reference to actually writing a
finished piece of work.
1. Netflix & Chill = Death of Creativity
I know I’m not the only person out there who sits languidly
for hours on end with my face stuck in Netflix, YouTube or Hulu. Binging a
creative piece of work that I didn’t have
to imagine or produce is literally my favorite part of every day. I brew a
cup of coffee, open the blinds to let in the sun, and spend the first two hours
of my day going through my YouTube subscription feed. It reminds me of how my
mother and grandmother always watch Dr. Phil or Ellen Degeneres in their free
time, taking in the updates of the world (if only on a social scale) and
letting it wash over you until you feel a little more informed. Not to say that
I don’t admire their commitment to a schedule, but unfortunately I will have to
detox myself from these binge pits. I think the best I can say is that I will
cut this binging in half to at least allow myself to pull up a chair away from
my living room and stare at a different screen: my laptop open to a Word
document.
2. Outlining and Planning Counts
Camp NaNoWriMo ‘winners’ are those that reach their chosen
word count goal, set automatically to 50,000 words. HOLY CRAP I COULD RANT
FOREVER IF I HAD 50,000 WORDS. At least, that’s what I think every time I open
up the story options on the website and pretend like I’m going to write
something this year. I think a huge sink in my motivation ends up being the
fact that I will spend 2-5 days wanting to outline and plan my novel. Spending
this much time planning to write a
book can mean that this word count goal seems unobtainable. 1,900+ words a day
after planning seems like enough to make me want to tweeze my eyeballs out, BUT
I have a plan. I don’t really care how long it takes to plan my story, because
as it stands in my word document, any planning stages of my story will count
toward my word count. Unfair? I don’t care!! Any amount of time put toward this
project will be success, and will every thousand words I pile on in hopes of
evolving this craft, I will congratulate myself and imagine pulling myself
through the dirt and grime and rocks to get to the end of this project.
Inspiring, right?
3. Change of Scenery
Like I said before, I really
enjoy a good cup of coffee and a binge of any version of media. I will sit down
in my super comfy lounge chair, curl my legs up under me, and lose 3+ hours
daily to my subscriptions. My remedy for this is already in place as I write
this post. I will change things up, both minorly and majorly. Right now, I’m
just in a kitchen chair at my TV tray writing away (super fancy, I know) but I
will be that person everyone hates: the super fancy writer in the Starbucks
using up the free wifi, sitting in a local bookstore hogging the outlet with my
laptop charger. I will go outside my comfort zone even if it means a measly 500
words toward my project. Any refreshment to my normally meh environment will be
a cool blast of air to my motivation.
4. Sleep Schedule?
Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of non-work time in my
life. Taking away my TV binge-time will allow me more of a creative space to
work with in my planner, but ultimately I’m going to have to make some changes
in the bedroom. No, not that kind of changes… I may need to actually abide by
an alarm clock to wake me up, not just waking up whenever the sun eventually
scratches through my eyelids. It may be time to mandate a 9am alarm so I can
get my brain pumping out words, so that I won’t feel like I’ve lost all this
potential by waking up at 12pm for a 2pm work shift… This may be a flexible
tactic, but as long as it’s in print, I may have to do it anyway!
5. Charting my Progress
The most basic way to be successful at this writing
challenge is by motivating myself with what I’ve already done. I will be using
the generated Camp NaNoWriMo chart to see where I’m at with my word count, but
I will also be plotting how much I write per day with some sort of color-coding
in my personal word document. I don’t know how well this color-coding will help
when it comes to editing and sectioning out my story, but something about the division
of each day’s labor in visual form is very soothing to me. I love to see my
progress because every word written is another reason to keep writing. For
instance, this post alone is already going to be about the amount of writing I
need to do daily to keep up a good goal. So already, charting progress: check!
If all goes as planned, I will be outlining whatever story
strikes me in a simultaneously opened Word document directly after posting this
blog post. Although my word count technically starts tomorrow, I am committed
to the spirit of creating. It might be sloppy and it might not even be anything
I want to publish or have under my name after I write it, but it will be a
finished piece of work that I created and stand behind (perhaps shamelessly).
Come July 31st, I will be a writer (more officially than I am now,
that is).
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