Hey, there! I know, I know – it’s been a while. I’m sorry. And, yes… I’m still writing.
In case you were wondering, that’s the Twitter hashtag abbreviation for National Novel Writing Month. This writing challenge takes place in November and the goal is 50,000 words over the course of the month. I started with big goals. I hadn’t touched the novel in months and, quite honestly, hadn’t done any good amount of writing in a while.
Even so, I had lofty ambitions of finishing (or nearly finishing) my book. Well, alas, when the end of the month hit, I had disappointed myself. Only 5,000 new words. I had only written ten percent of what I’d set out to. I wasn’t very happy. But, then, something funny happened – I started to write a little more every day. I was immersed back into the story and I started to feel it again.
It turns out November didn’t give me a finished novel but it did give me a push in the right direction. As of last Friday, I broke 20,000 words and am full steam ahead! The last month and a half have seen me almost double my word count and I can’t wait to see what I can do in January. I’ve realized in the last few months that time is our most valuable asset – you can’t get more of it or get it back. At this point, I’m just thankful for what time I do have.
As they say, “nothing worth having is easy” and I’ve come to embrace this fact. Sometimes, when other priorities, whether personal or professional, demand your attention, you start to feel like you’ll never reach the end, you’ll never be able to devote enough time for you to be able to finish. This is a lie – don’t listen. Look that doubt in the face and tell it to go screw itself because, damn it, you’re going to accomplish whatever you please, no matter what. Just remember this: you cannot fail if you do not stop.
No matter how small the progress, if you determine to trudge forward day after day you will reach your destination or goal, regardless of what it is. It is the will to continue on in the face of defeat or failure that separates dreams from reality. It’s that simple. So, go do what you want to. Make it happen. Make something great; cause that’s sure as hell what I’m going to do.
