I attended a lovely little writer's conference today in Ionia, A Gathering of Writers. Seeing as it's November, we discussed National Novel Writing Month. I attempted this once many years ago and wrote about two pages. Every year since I'd think, "this is cool for others, but not how I work," and I'd just let November pass. This year, however, I'm feeling motivated by everyone else's motivation, so I'm approaching NaNoWriMo differently. Yes, I will write a ton, but no, it won't be a novel. I know this sounds like an oxymoron, but hear me out.
I think November writing should be completely specific to whatever it is you need to get done. Maybe you feel like you need to finish your screenplay or find journals to send your poetry to. (Yes, I believe you could spend an entire month just dedicated to journal hunting.) Maybe you want to write an album's worth of songs. For me, it's going to be "perfecting" and sending out as many short stories as I can. I published my first novel in August and am anxious to keep building my platform. Obsessing over the sequel or a different novel right now just feels...well, how do you THINK it feels? I have a little treasure trove of short stories hiding in my computer, and I really feel like I need to get them out there. Then I can go back to the long stuff.
NaNoWriMo for me is ShoStoWritMo. (That's really fun to say!) I'm going to tap into the communal writing spirit and fervor that fuels NaNoWriMo to do the writing that I need to do. I'm allowed to do this because I say I am.
How about you? What do you want to get done this month, novels or otherwise? Any alterations with hashtags that sound as cool as mine?
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