I think it's time for a new writing initiative on my part. I'm challenging myself to write something every day. Some days I'll write a post to this blog, some days I'll write some fiction. I may even find some new venues for writing, but I need to be writing more than I am now. So, starting with this here blog post, I am writing daily.
When I get to November, I'm going to participate in the NaNoWriMo. The idea behind NaNoWriMo is that as a participant you write a 50,000 word novel within the month of November. The goal isn't to write a quality piece of work, but to just get the words out. November 1st you have to start from scratch, and you have 30 days to do 50,000 words. To get it done that quickly while still working a day job there really won't be any time for editing. This gets aspiring authors to get over their fear of writing garbage.
As I think about it a bit more, I think I can liken writing to sketching. I don't know when I figured this out, but artists start with a really really rough drawing and just keep adding lines that are close to what their looking for until they have a complete picture. Only then do they go back and try to get the exact lines that they are looking for. Writing like this will be very similar. All I need to do in November is break the word count. I can go back and edit it and make it good after November is over.
Also, I'm going to move the blog in a slightly different direction. Since I pretty much post all of my life happenings as they happen on twitter, putting them on here would be a little redundant. I started this blog to document my transition from city life to rural life. I've been here close to 2 years now, so that transition is mostly done. I'll focus more on the technology/futurism commentary that I occasionally do. Major life events will still get posted here, but just not very often. That's why my PAX decompression post focused on how twitter usage affected the weekend.
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2 comments:
That's awesome that you are challenging yourself with writing. I've always had a problem maintaining the drive to write. Good luck in November. I'm curious about what the story will be.
The NaNoWriMo contest is one of best ways to learn how to finish a book. I always found starting easy. But having to fit 50k words into 30 days, you have to write and not edit. it's amazing how much time I would normally spend re-reading and editing as I went. Here's a tip: remember Thanksgiving is mixed in there at the end just to trip you up!
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