“Measure your worth by the dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures.” – Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic.
Heya everyone
It’s Day Twelve, so coming up on the end of week two and the mid-point of NaNo madness, and I figured now was as good a time as any for me to pontificate on the magic of NaNo.
What NaNo is is that magical time of year where we get to be proud of being writers, we get to immerse ourselves in a supportive community and be part of something bigger. I don’t know about you but I just love how it promotes the written word and helps people fall in love with storytelling.
What NaNo isn’t is a stick to beat yourself with. Pulling out my trusty copy of No Plot? No Problem! Chris Baty says that the 50,000 word target is arbitrary. He picked up the shortest book on his shelf, thumbed through it and guesstimated. The 50k has merit, it’s long enough to be a challenge, short enough not to be intimidating but it’s a guideline only.
NaNo is a self-challenge, it is a fantastic tool, one which can walk with you no matter what stage of the journey you are on. At this point of the month we all have different word counts, and it’s possible that you aren’t where you want to be. There’s still over half the challenge to go and that’s kinda my point – the journey isn’t over yet!
“There’s always another chance, there’s always another trick, there’s always something more to learn.” – Flynn Carsen, The Librarians
If you are on pace – fantastic! If you are steaming on ahead – brilliant! If you are a little behind – don’t worry! NaNo is a self-challenge and what matters most is that you don’t give up. If you reach 50k early then go for the stars and write more. If you aren’t going to reach the 50k then keep writing anyway. No matter what you are going to end the month with more words than you started with. You will have faced the dragon of resistance and you will have won.
#had to work a Librarians quote in there somewhere it makes me happy#wrote this for my region and figured might as well share with my friends