Thursday, October 9, 2014

National Novel Writing Month Challenge=I'm Probably Crazy

My current full-time job is a good job.  I've mastered a lot of the skills and information I didn't have my first year, I have a supportive boss I can talk with and I love my co-workers.  I can't picture myself doing it for the next 20 years, but for where I'm at in my life it's a good job and one I'm content with.
The only downside?  The past two months have been a crazy whirlwind due to some staff losses and difficulty in hiring.  I realized last night that while I've built up my author social media presence and done much better interacting on Twitter, Facebook, etc., I've failed to do the one thing I should be focusing on as an author seeking publication: WRITE!
Crazy, right?  But this is a problem I hear about from many other authors balancing full-time jobs, part-time jobs, volunteer and charity activities, family obligations and a myriad of other things.  With so much going on how can any of us expect to find time to take a deep breath, much less write bestselling material without falling into the passive voice/cliche hero/purple prose traps?
That being said, the more I read and the more I work with other writers in my critique group, the more I want to go for my passion, my dream of becoming a published romance author.
So I decided to make a commitment.  I signed up for National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org).  I didn't even realize the website existed until I did a search on how to finish a book in a month.  The site provides a variety of resources, including tools to help you plan out writing your book, online forums that help you connect with other writers and even information on local critique groups.
As I started to fill out the sign-up sheet, I panicked.  What if I don't finish?  There were over 700,000 people who did this last year.  How can I ever expect mine to get picked for publication?  Is there a point to finishing this?  My writing probably sucks.  
And then I had another thought.  Who cares?  I enjoy writing.  I love seeing something random in my daily life and spinning it into a tale of fiction.  I love creating sentences, some beautiful and some downright ugly.  I love to read, I love to write, and while getting published is the ultimate goal, I need to be able to take some joy from the simple act of putting my ideas onto paper.
So I finished the sign-up.  I may finish my novel in a month or I may not.  My whole plan of submitting my first round of queries by May could be a feasible goal or could be completely ludicrous with my current schedule.
But I'm trying.  And for right now, I'm content with that.

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