Winner Swag

     I try to get my posts up by midnight on Wednesdays, but today I'm taking advantage of my Christmas Break to deviate from my schedule a little bit and relax. I hope you are, too!

   
     As part of the NaNoWriMo winner swag, I get a special offer: two copies of my novel printed and bound for free! I want it to be brushed, washed, and presentable to a preliminary audience for that, but right now Wynna: Dragon Rider is one act and ~100 pages short of a full-length novel. The printing deal expires June 2014. So, new Goal:

❧ within the next six months, finish novel and complete round 1 editing ❧

     Now, for a backward glance. It was crazy busy the past two weeks, but I spent half a Saturday writing. Somehow my rumination on everyday miracles turned into another poem about writing poetry. Click to read "The Laboring Poet," and be sure to leave a comment below!

NaNoWriMo Winner

   

  

     Yay! I did it!

    "Winner" means that I achieved my goal by writing at least 50,000 words between November 1st and 30th. 

     I'm going to celebrate, once Christmas break starts, by sleeping. I've got two busy weeks of school left before then. Speaking of which, here's a funny poem to brighten your day:

For a Student Sleeping in a Poetry Workshop by David Wagoner : Poetry Magazine

     50,625 is a BIG step in the process, but Wynna: Dragon Rider, my NaNo novella, is still in its earliest beginnings. Even with 50k+ words down, I'm only at the climax of Act II in my plot outline. That means I have 50-100 more pages to indulge in before my first draft is finished.

     In the meantime, here are a few things I learned from NaNoWriMo:

NaNoWriMo: No More Excuses

      Seems like I'm always writing about the passage of time, but really, November is right around the corner. That means we're only a week away from National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.

     NaNoWriMo begins at midnight on November 1st and ends midnight of the 30th. Those daring souls who embark on this adventure write furiously to meet the daunting word count of 50,000 before the deadline. That's 1666 words, or around 10 pages double-spaced, per day. NaNo isn't about polish or beautiful turns of phrase--it's about getting the words onto the page. Editing can come later.

    The pressure and accountability from NaNoWriMo might just be my ticket. I've made way too many excuses not to write. But as the last October days drop like flies and the time to register grows nearer, I alternately have imaginations of myself half-asleep and squinting at the manuscript on my computer screen in the silence of 2 and 3 a.m., and a less triumphant version in which I'm shamefacedly writing a post about how I just didn't have the time and..."maybe next year."

     I gave myself a test today. I did the writing prompt from a few days ago on The Write Practice, where you lock in and write a complete work in one hour. I ended up with three-fourths of a page of exposition and about a page of outline for a short story. It didn't boost my confidence.
     I'm afraid I'll start half-heartedly and not end up doing it. But that'll be a stinky little excuse when December rolls around and Wynna's story is still trapped in my head.

     How do you commit to big endeavors?