Sunday, November 30, 2008

*happy dance*

image

I survived NaNoWriMo 2008!

I’ve never professed to be a Writer, but I do write fiction in addition to the writing that shows up on my two blogs and in my paper journal. 

So, when September / October rolls around, I start thinking about signing up for the insanity that is NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month).  The goal is simple: 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. It breaks down to 1,667 words a day.  Sounds completely manageable, right?  HA!

I did it last in 2003 and it was HARD.  I struggled with every single word - using ridiculous plot twists and stooping as low as to break out words that I would normally contract.  It was ugly and I felt dirty.  But I won and I was hooked.  I spent the next 5 years in school.  It is impossible to take classes and revolve your life around NaNo.  At least, I found it impossible. But then again, I’m a seat-of-my-pants type of writer.  I don’t get the people who won earlier this week and have already started researching and character sketching next year’s.  I don’t know how to write with such discipline - even my school papers were total stream of consciousness garbage during the first draft (or several).

This year, I did nothing like that.  It was real writing.  No cheating… although I did introduce a character in the first paragraph and then kind of forgot all about him.  He was supposed to be involved in this thing with the main character, but I decided afterwards that I didn’t want him to hang around very long. I actually ended today at a cliffhanger, so I could pick up the story later. When I have the time… Currently my goals for the next few weeks are prepping for the GMAT, writing my essays for my MBA application and doing 50+ handmade Christmas cards. Not necessarily in that order, of course, but I want to get my application in by January 15th (the first available 2009 due date) and sit for the GMAT in February.

It’s time to get back to the real world and not spend so much time on this stupid computer.  (It’s a good thing I didn’t enjoy the WoW trial I got sucked into…)

 

Posted by Matty on 11/30 at 01:36 PM
Permalink