NaNoWriMo

I put "completing NaNoWriMo" on my 101 list. When most people hear about NaNoWriMo, they just ask, "Uh... what?" And then I have to go on and clarify what NaNoWriMo is. (And some people still think I'm crazy after the explanation.)

NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month) is a challenge in the month of November to write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days. This averages out to be 1667 words a day to reach the goal. Quite a bit of writing, and it can definitely be a bit intimidating. But I did it!

I know my novel wasn't anything special, especially considering the fact that I officially decided to participate on October 31 and had no real plan or outline going into it. However, it was really fun to just be a bit creative in my free time. I forgot how therapeutic writing can be for me. I was able to actually work out some personal issues, in a way. Amazing how just writing can do that. And it's so liberating to just ignore your inner editor for a while, because you need to get your word count. (Sometimes, it does become more about quantity than quality.) It doesn't matter if what you write doesn't make complete sense. It doesn't matter if you have the perfect phrase to describe everything. It doesn't matter if the characters aren't completely fleshed out. As some NaNoWriMo participants have been known to say, "December (and beyond) is for editing." I'm not entirely sure how much editing I'll ever end up doing, since I don't really have plans to publish it. But maybe. We'll see. And I'm already considering doing it again next year. Maybe with more of a plan.

But for now, I'll just be proud of this win. I mean, how many people can say they've written a novel? It was always something I wanted to be able to say, and now I can! It feels so great to set goals and achieve them.

Sleep-related 101 List Things

I had a couple of sleep-related goals on my 101 list, and I completed both of them this week. They were to be in bed before midnight for a week and to get up right when my alarm goes off for a week.

These may not seem like a big deal, but for those who don't know, I'm a night owl. I definitely tend to stay up past midnight. And this leads to me not being much of a morning person, so I don't get up immediately. But it was a good idea to start my full-time job being more rested. And actually getting to bed at a semi-reasonable time (even though there were a few nights I slipped into bed just a bit before midnight) helped me to get up when my alarm went off. Amazing how that works. I should probably try to keep doing this. Sleep is important, and work has really been wearing me out... though I really have been enjoying my new job.

In other news, I decided to attempt to win NaNoWriMo. I wasn't going to tell anybody originally since I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to complete it and I hate feeling like I've failed or let people down. But apparently, though I'm great at keeping other people's secrets, I struggle to keep my own sometimes. Anyways, I decided to do NaNoWriMo, since in order to do it for my 101 list, I have to do it either this November or next November... and who knows what next November may bring. It hasn't been too hard so far, but I know it will likely get harder, since I don't exactly have much of a plan with it. I mean, I decided to do it on October 31, so I didn't have much of an outline going into it. And it's probably not the best idea to do NaNoWriMo right now, as I'm busy trying to learn a new job, make new friends, and learn a new area, but it's actually been kind of fun to let my creativity flow for a bit each day. We'll just have to see how it goes!