I'm standing right on the outskirts of insanity, two days away from total madness. I both dread and look forward to it -- a challenge, a battle, a I-can-do-this moment.
50,000 words. 30 days.
NaNoWriMo.
Yikes.
I first participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) four years ago. I thought it was crazy. Madness. But my sister (who'd already done it once) pushed me to try... and I (reluctantly) did. To my surprise, I made it. I not only made it -- I enjoyed it. After that, I completed two more NaNos for a total of three successful challenges. Last year was the first time I didn't do NaNo because I was struggling with trying to figure out how to make a living and write at the same time. Not sure I've worked that one out yet... but there's writing to be done and I can't wait around for the math to compute.
It's not easy. It's one-half inch short of impossible. What I like about it, is it's me pushing the limits -- forcing myself to do something hard... and having no one to answer to (or blame) but myself if I fail. And even if I don't make the 50,000 -- that's ok. I will have written. I will have forced myself to create. I will have tried.
My best writing is found right here. On the edge of my comfort zone. On the brink of impossible. Where the speed limit changes and the scenery starts to look different...
No comments:
Post a Comment