It is November, and for the first time in ten years, I am not in the middle of exams.
Greetings everybody, despite the lengthy silence here at Works in Progress I am in fact still alive. I'd say that rumours of my death had been greatly exaggerated, except that there were no rumours, exaggerated or otherwise (also because that would be plagiarism).
Where Have I Been?
It seems that the best way for me to stop making posts is to promise you two a week, so I will refrain from making such promises in future. I haven't forgotten about this blog at all, I've just had trouble actually finishing posts. There are a good half-a-dozen drafts saved that I can't seem to wrap up into something that I'm satisfied with, and many more drafts that were deleted wholesale before I even finished writing them. Such are the perils of writing without a deadline and wanting to meet one's own exacting standards. I do want to keep this place alive and continue to populate it, so I'm going to fight against my perfectionism and keep writing even at my current quality, so more posts are on their way don't you worry.
My general lack of online presence is in part due to the fact that with exam season looming on the horizon, my work as a tutor has picked up immensely in the past month or two. This has had the unfortunate side effect of keeping me rather busy and when I have turned to creative endeavours, they have largely been for my offline creations; including two DnD campaigns that I am running in a world that I took it upon myself to build from scratch because I don't know how to be sensible. Expect to hear about that in future posts, as it is proving to be an excellent creative outlet, but for now, I want to stay on topic, which is what finally brings us back to November.
Remember, Remember...
While it may seem like something of a filler month, there is a surprising amount that actually happens in November. Apart from the aforementioned seasonal exams, we have Guy Fawkes and Thanksgiving - neither of which are really celebrated here in South Africa but which I am nevertheless well aware of thanks to the ever-present influence of the internet - and the more recent phenomenon of NaNoWriMo.
November, largely by virtue of being the only month to start with the letter N and the fact that literary types are suckers for alliteration, was dubbed National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo for short). The organisation that leads this movement is helpfully also called NaNoWriMo and seeks to inspire and encourage creativity among writers around the world by giving them tools, structure, and a community to support them. If you are interested in finding out more, you can visit their website here: https://www.nanowrimo.org/
The goal of NaNoWriMo (the month, not the organisation) is to write a novel over the course of the month of November. This may seem like a big ask, especially if you are someone who has never written before, but this is by no means a deadline. There are no penalties if one does not write a full novel, or even if one doesn't write at all. The intention is to give yourself a goal to pursue, and have a time where you are reminded to write.
Helpful Anniversaries
Guy Fawkes and Thanksgiving are commemorative anniversaries, meaning that they revolve around remembering something that happened, and they come around every year. Nanowrimo is similar, except that instead of helping us to remember past events, it helps us remember things we want to be doing in the present.
I have wanted to write a book for the past several years, and throughout high school I would write snippets and notes for it, gradually expanding the idea from a short story to occupy myself while I was bored in class into something that I would genuinely like to publish someday. I began to write other stories too, although I never seemed to finish any of them. This was a habit that I carried into university, but as the workload began to pile up with essay after essay, and reading became something to do for my research rather than for enjoyment, I found myself writing less. Eventually, my writing faded from being a regular habit into something I would remember every few months and go back to rehash the same few pages of text half-heartedly, doing so because I was supposed to be writing.
Picking Up the Pieces
It's been a few months since I last looked at those old notes, and I haven't written anything new for that story this year. It's easy to forget about, and it slips off of the priority list rather easily. With Nanowrimo however, I was reminded that I actually want to write, which is very different to those occasions when I have returned to my notes because I felt guilty about avoiding them for so long. My writing aspirations aren't something I have grown out of with time and maturity, they are passions that have fallen by the wayside due to the pace of life, but I do not wish to leave them there.
NaNoWriMo reminded me of something that I have ignored, and that life has pushed beyond my reach for a period, and for that reminder, I am immensely grateful. I would like to ask you, what creative project, business aspiration, or personal resolution have you dropped somewhere along the way that you would much rather still pursue? I want to be your reminder, just as Nanowrimo was mine, that you can still do those things you want to do, and do them in such a way that they are enjoyable, rather than trudging through them out of a sense of obligation or guilt.
And to my fellow writers, I hope you will join me in this NaNoWriMo, and beyond.
Stay Creative,
Mike
* I am unaffiliated with NaNoWriMo and anything I have written here is based on my personal knowledge and research. What I have said is in no way indicative of the views of NaNoWriMo as an organisation. Just thought I should include this here before I get asked any questions I cannot answer.
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