Tuesday 23 September 2014

NaNoWriMoThou


I am getting pretty excited about NaNoWriMo now. You may have noticed I have mentioned it a couple of times and I have bought several things in anticipation/using NaNoWriMo as an excuse.

These things are:
2 pens
2 pencils – one with tiny pugs on and one with a Jane Austen quote
1 A4 notebook, spiral bound
1 purple satchel because it was cheap in TK Maxx and how else will I carry my notebooks and laptop?
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What an inspiring picture. I am such a innovative photographer..
I just feel like there needs to be some colour in the post!
 
I have also washed my Kigus so that I can wear them during NaNoWriMo season and I have bought several jumpers for general wear but also with NaNoWriMo in mind. I'm even thinking of doing some really gruelling training at work during October to prepare myself for the gruelling writing of NaNoWriMo.
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sexy jumper for NaNoWriMo times

NaNoWriMo means a lot to me. You can tell it means a lot to me because I still have my winner badge over there in the sidebar! Winning NaNoWriMo in 2012 is the thing in my life I am most proud of… apart from my degree and managing to feed myself day-to-day etc. It brought me back to myself and helped me to come out of what I now refer to as The Sad Times. During The Sad Times my self-esteem was so low basically considered myself an oxygen thief/waste of food. I had got to the point where I didn't believe myself capable of anything at all. When you are failing to get dressed several times a week, it's difficult to believe you will achieve anything worthwhile again. The last thing I thought I would be doing was something like NaNoWriMo which was completely optional and would really not matter to anyone apart from myself. There was no one to make me do it and there would be no real consequences if I didn't succeed. No one would care if I gave up after the first ten minutes. But something made me take on the challenge and I did succeed and I date my emergence from the sad times from 30th November 2012 aka. the day that I won NaNoWriMo. Doing NaNoWriMo made me believe that I could achieve things, and made me wonder if perhaps I could achieve anything if I worked hard enough. Before NaNoWriMo I didn't think I was able to work at something and achieve goals. I knew that it was literally possible because I have hands and know some words, but I didn't believe I had the willpower and drive to make things happen. So when I actually did it, when I actually completed my terrible, terrible novel, I began to believe that I might be a worthwhile person after all.

 

As a result I am pretty emotionally invested in NaNoWriMo. I want to do it for the same reason that some people do extreme sports: because I can. I want to push myself right to the edge of what seems possible and I want to be amazed by what I can achieve. I didn't manage to complete NaNoWriMo last year, partly because I had started a new job (I'm sure this is thanks to NaNoWriMo) but the main reason was I had no plan. Which is making me worried for this year because I have no plan as yet. WHAT AM I GOING TO WRITE? I have been trying to decide if I should go for the easy option this year and write some trashy romance or should I try to write the awesome historical novel that I have been thinking about for years but have only vague ideas about and no real plot?I have a lot of planning to do but that is why I have all that stationary!

Here is the post I wrote after I won.

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