On this Thing Called Writing (#1)

This post is a day overdue, because life got in the way, as did a new writing goal. Yesterday I put blogging aside in order to type up seventeen hundred plus words daily exercise. The NaNoWriMo organization sets aside the month of November for a challenge. Each year, members call on amateur writers to sit down and draft their first novels. They have set the mark at 50,000 words in thirty days. That works out to about 1,666 words every twenty four hours (I have rounded it to 1,700). There is no expectation that what comes out in the end is publishable, let alone resembling what you started. Just that you sit down, and each day, write a chunk of a story that has been gestating in your mind.

Basically, nothing will happen unless you start writing.

I tried this challenge, I believe, back in 2015. As I mentioned in my last post, I failed. About 18,000 was the best I could muster. At the time, I felt good about the few scenes I had composed. However, I am reluctant to forage into that file and reread some of those pages. Lest I ruin my memory of those passages. Okay, at some point, when I have the courage, or the humility, I will go back and study that past plunge into writing a novel.

Right now, I am focused on building up a habit I have been longing to possess: writing on a daily basis. The purpose is to two-fold: get all these daydreams and ideas out of my head into the open, then analyze and edit them for consumption. I already journal at least once a day, though I find I consistently do the morning regime, and skip the evening rounds. But that is for my eyes only, at least until I die. Blogging has been the other writing habit I have successfully developed. While I may have missed a week here and there, and have gone from three times a week to just once, I have kept it up for a over eighteen months, and I am proud of that accomplishment. 

With those two writing habits in place, I would like to focus on that third one. 

For me, this NaNoWriMo challenge is the way to do it. There is an overall, concrete target:  the first draft of a short novel. Do it in thirty days. Chunk it in to 1700 words a day. Use this time to figure out what schedule works best for you. All at once in the morning? Spread it out across the day? Sacrifice something else (like social media, or watching television)? That is the point of this process:  discover how to achieve this goal. Humans work best with a specific objective, and a limited timeframe. Discomfort inspires, deadlines motivate. However, there is such as thing as too much work, or not enough time. Or an impossible task. In the end, the challenge is about learning that habitually writing will make it easier to draft a novel. And you will only believe it, by actually doing it. Finally, you will only do it, if you break it down into smaller pieces.

So, here I am sharing with you my progress so far.  For each of the past eight days, I have sat down and produced over 1700 words. My maximum so far is 2922; my minimum, 1746. With twenty-two days to go, I am thirty-four percent of the way towards 50000 words. 

I am happy with these numbers.

However, what I am proud of the most, and I believe is a sign that I am getting closer to the other goal, is what happened this morning. After finishing my daily chores, including journaling, I sat down and knocked out 2188 words in about an hour. There was no struggle to starting the process. No excuses, or prioritizing other things in front of this task. I turned on the computer, opened up the file, and hit those keys. Now, if I can replicate today's accomplishment every day this week, first thing in the morning, I know I will be well on my way to a stronger habit. Today was more than just a step, it was leap in the right direction.

Now, let us see what tomorrow brings. 

(For my next blog post, I think I will discuss some of the revelations I have had about writing in general, and my own abilities to write in particular, that have arisen from this challenge.)