Nov 25, 2013
Twenty-five days into NaNoWriMo and almost at goal. Not so concerned with hitting 50k words by November 30th so much, more concerned with continuing the momentum December 1 and beyond.
I'm at a key scene in the story. Not a key scene that contributes a whole lot to the plot, just a scene that I had played over and over in my mind when I first started thinking about this story. So I feel like I'm hitting a mini-goal. Quite a few things have changed in my original outline as I have been writing. That's expected. But this scene has always been one I intended to use no matter what.
The last twenty-five days have been life changing. There have been so many times in my life that I have started something and not finished. A diet, saving money, exercising consistently, to name a few. Things I have all started with the best of intentions, but have failed at miserably. The reason?
A coworker told me, we humans are never very good at setting realistic goals for ourselves. A diet goal should be five pounds at a time, not the whole fifty all at once. Breaking something into a tiny, more manageable goal...like writing 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days is better than setting a goal of writing an entire novel in 30 days.
I can totally see myself doing my own DecNoWriMo - December Novel Writing Month. Another 50,000 words in 31 days (yay, an extra day!).
I say the whole process has been life changing because it's the first time I have ever stuck with something and been euphorically happy with the result. Although weight loss is never a bad thing, this has been more fulfilling. And I know now more than ever I want to write more often (for a living?). I want to spend more time writing and less time doing the crap I don't care about.
It takes focus and determination. Motivation can sometimes be hard to come by, especially when you're lazy like me. Maybe if I stop making excuses and stick with consistently writing, I'll be able to concentrate on the other things i should be doing instead of watching television.
Hmm, wonder if they make a treadmill that can hold your laptop? Kill two birds, ya know?