Road Trip Wednesday is a weekly blog carnival hosted by YA Highway. This week's topic is: Are you doing NaNoWriMo, or have you ever? Does having a deadline inspire you?
Oh, NaNoWriMo. I really thought this might be the year I could try you out! Alas, I'm already in the midst of a first draft. But even if I'm not participating, I still find NaNo November an inspiring and energizing time to write. 50,000 words is not an achievable word-count goal for me right now, but I'm setting my own: 25,000 in November. If all those other busy people can commit to 1,667 words a day, I can try for 833.
As for the second part of prompt, I love deadlines. (The self-imposed variety; I've yet to work on a contractual deadline for fiction. I have a feeling that would be a pretty different experience.) My deadlines are sometimes my writing lifeline, when I'm in the middle of a draft and I suddenly decide that my inspiration has dried up, I'm frustrated, and I feel like the story's stuck. Wanting to meet a self-imposed deadline is often enough to get me through a writing rough patch and back into a good place. I think it's important, though, to keep deadlines realistic. I'm trying to view my writing goals as intentions, and I feel the same way about deadlines. They inspire me to work hard, but sometimes they can't (or shouldn't) be met. When flexibility is feasible, embrace it!
Speaking of YA Highway and NaNo, check out their new inspiration venture for November: The Carpool Lane!
9 comments:
I'm looking forward to NaNo this year. I'm taking a blogging break and just focusing on writing so I have less to focus on. It's also handy that I'm starting November in the half term holiday so I have a few days to really get cracking. =D
But I actually love the deadline. It's motivating and keeps you strict about writing and sticking to your targets. It's great for any writers who procrastinate and want to be more disciplined. :) Hope you get the chance to be involved next year. Good luck with the rest of your first draft!
I was hoping I'd be in a place for NaNo...so many SNIs, so little time. Maybe next year!
And yes, LOVE deadlines. They very much keep me motivated. :) Good luck with yours!
Deadlines are pretty important to me, but they can't be self-imposed. I suck as a taskmaster, let me tell you. :) For me, NaNo this year is just going to be an opportunity to finish what I started last year. This works especially well because I've been puttering away at this thing for the past month or so, so I'm already in that mindset. I'm not sure if I could start something from scratch at this point.
I think your goal of 25,000 is a good one! Last year during NaNo I reached about 19,000 words, and I was sort of proud of myself. We'll see how it all goes this year. :)
I like having deadlines too. I think NaNo will be a big challenge for me (since I don't normally write this many words in such a small amount of time) but I think it will also push me to crank out a draft without self editing. I'm excited! Good luck with your word count goal for November. :)
I'm so with you on self-imposed deadlines. I like the idea of setting your own word count goal for November. Maybe I'll do that. I don't think I'll be ready for a full 50,000 NaNo goal, but I could try to go for a 25,000 goal. Love it!
Timing is crucial for NaNo.
I need to make my self-imposed intentions more realistic...I keep waiting for big hunks of time to write that never appear...I need to split my writing goals into smaller chunks.
Love your take on deadlines. I feel similarly. I wish you were jumping on-board with NaNo, but I totally get the timing issue. It's the very reason that I've never attempted it before. Good luck meeting your 25K goal... I'll be cheering you on!
Deadlines always help me, too, but they have to be external. I never listen to my inner boss, because I know my threats are all empty, lol.
Anyway, 25,000 is still an incredible amount of writing to get done in a month, so good luck with your semi-NaNo this year :)
So...I´m really thinking about doing NaNo even though I know that I´ve got so much going on right now...Hmmm, but I´ll be querying and NaNo might help keep me sane as I wait, and wait, and wait to see if anybody is interested in my novel :D
And yay for 25000 words, I´ll totally be cheering you on for them :D
Post a Comment