Reflections

52,953 Words!

• By Abel
• December 12, 2014
• No Comments

Consistency of effort helps move things forward. I participated in a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. NaNoWriMo, for those of you who might not be familiar with it, is a marathon for writers to create a 50,000 word novel in 30 short days. I was successful in writing 52,953 words! Taking on this challenge meant I had to get up early to write; and, I had to write as soon as I got home from work in order to amass the average 1,666 words per day to meet this goal. What I found was momentum, creativity, and excitement in making something out of nothing.

I won’t say I have a masterpiece that’s ready to be published – far from it. It’s more like a jigsaw puzzle of scenes, characters, settings, and back stories that need to be restructured to form a cohesive story that will compel readers to turn the pages and find out what happens next.

Now it’s December and I’ve started to piece together my story from November’s daily musings.  I have found crater-sized holes that need to be filled, inconsistencies that need to be reconciled, and just plain bad material that needs to be scrapped. But the fact is I am so much further along than I would have been if I had  continued to insist that I needed to have a well-developed idea before I could even begin to write my story.

I also found out that when the pressure is off it’s easy to slip back into less productive work patterns. And I’m not particularly happy with myself for slacking off in December. Certainly I needed to take a break, but I also needed to set a new goal and a new date to begin working toward that goal. There is a lot still to be done to complete this “masterpiece in the making” but by setting manageable and challenging daily targets, which I will honor and care for, something wonderful will arise.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Assink