People, I can't believe it. I just uploaded my humble work-in-progress to Camp NaNoWriMo headquarters, and their word counting gizmo verified that I have, indeed, written 50,084 words in 29 days. HOL.EE.CRAP. Do you know what that makes me?
A winner, folks! A novelist, the Camp web site is calling me now. Well, I don't know about that. What I've been writing is not a complete novel (yet), and it certainly isn't good (yet). But I have 50,000 words that all belong to the same story, and that is HUGE for me and my fickle writing habits.
Did I believe I could do it? Yes and no. I believed I could write 50,000 words in a month if I really set my mind to it. But I didn't really believe that life would let that happen. I knew I would try as hard as I could to do my part, but deep down I figured something would interfere and keep me from reaching the goal line--I'd get sick, or my computer would accidentally delete my file, or something. But, no--I DID IT.
How did I do it? By writing every day. Sleeping seven hours a night instead of eight. Exercising for 30 minutes instead of 45. Writing while I ate lunch instead of surfing the interwebs. Doing less reading, very little mandolin practicing, and no sewing at all. Turning down an invitation to the movies with friends. All those little bits of time added up, and even though I sometimes resented having to squeeze writing in where other activities would normally be, I trudged on.
And no, I don't really win anything, and no, nobody's work gets "discovered" at Camp NaNoWriMo (they don't even read it). This challenge was never about anything like that. It was about making myself do it.
Think you'd like to try your hand at Camp NaNoWriMo? There's another session coming up in August. I'm just sayin'....
Thank you all for being my cheering section! I hope I can maintain the momentum. Michelle, hard to say...maybe 60 or 90 minutes total a day, grabbed in small chunks?
Posted by: Stacy | Monday, July 02, 2012 at 13:48
An absolutely massive WELL DONE on this achievement. It's no easy task. I take my hat off to anyone who successfully completes NaNoWriMo.
Posted by: didyoumakethat | Monday, July 02, 2012 at 05:56
That's so great!!! Knew you could do it :)
Posted by: Mom | Saturday, June 30, 2012 at 12:19
Congratulations Stacey!!! You've proved that really can do it.
Posted by: Gaidig | Saturday, June 30, 2012 at 12:15
Damn, woman, that's an accomplishment. How much time do you think it was, on average, per day? I wish I could do it for August, but I have to be focusing on my thesis research and writing.
Posted by: bibliomichelle | Saturday, June 30, 2012 at 07:45
Excellent. Keep it up.
Posted by: Mark Eichelberger | Saturday, June 30, 2012 at 00:06
Woo Hoo! Congratulations :) (we did miss you at the movies tho)
Posted by: Christy | Friday, June 29, 2012 at 23:32