NaNo Journal Day 7 of 1
If you’re reading this there is a good chance you are a writer or know someone who is. If you are a friend of mine, the previous statement also applies. And if you know a writer (or are one) there is also a good chance you know about the amazing madness that is NaNo – National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. Or NaNo for shorter.
I started participating in NaNo way back in 2013 when I was but a humble blogger who somehow thought ‘just’ blogging made me less of a writer. In the 9 years since, I have participated in NaNo in one way or another. And I’ve even ‘won’ NaNo a few times. Winning consists of hitting the 50,000 word count goal set at the start of the month.
One year I inched toward my word goal by supplementing my words on my work in progress with blog entries detailing what my imposter-syndromed brain was going through during the month.
Much like now.
You see it is technically Day 7 of NaNo for those die-hards who started at midnight of Nov 1st. And while I was up at midnight that day, I did not start trailblazing my way to 50K that night. Nope. I was ironing clothes for my client visit the following morning. 3 days later I was home from the work trip and exhausted.
I had every intention of catching up on words this past weekend, but that didn’t happen either. Not sure why my brain takes these moments to flop down like a stubborn dog in the summer heat who no longer wants to be on the walk that moments ago it drove you crazy begging for.
I announced my intent to participate this year. Fueled by a goal related to some exciting news that I will share later. And here we are, 7 days in and it’s my Day 1. This puts me at over 10,000 words behind on the ‘official’ goal.
I say the official goal in air quotes (and in real quotes in the line above) because I think the real goal is to get used to writing and get used to telling people that you are writing. And then shyly telling them that your story isn’t that good and you don’t really want to talk about it for fear that they won’t like it. Or worse, fear that they will and they will start asking you more questions about it and start suggesting ways for your story to go that take the agency of writing it away from you and make you lose interest in the story altogether. Or maybe that’s just me.
Where was I going with this? Oh yes. I have thrown my hat in the ring of fire..er…NaNo. And I’m way behind. And I’m ok with that, because even though it’s day 7, I have started writing. And even though it’s just a blog post, it’s still real writing. Because words are words.
Now, you may have noticed the little breadcrumb I dropped earlier about good news.
Astute observation my friends.
This coming July, I will be participating as an author at the event Writers on the River in Peoria, Illinois. I have gone in the past as the assistant to my bestie, Monica Corwin and it’s a phenomenal event. This year I get to pass another milestone on my dream of being a real-live author and will have my own (half) table there and be signing books!
That’s right–my first author signing!
And more than the 50K specter of NaNo looming over me, the pressure of having a new book done and ready by July is the big elephant in the room now.
So, don’t be surprised if, throughout the rest of the month the word count on the work in progress is supplanted with blog posts. Because my day job is ridiculously busy until the end of the year.
But that’s OK. I have a goal. I have a deadline. And I have another part of my dream to make a reality.
And that’s better than a counter on a wording website.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to go update my NaNo page.
Happy Wording, y’all and have an awesomesauce day!
-A.T.
Todd Skaggs Writes 