National Novel Writing Month used to scare me.
The first time I heard about it was in college. A few of my literary friends, who were English majors, told me they were going to do it. I mulled over the idea since I’ve always enjoyed writing. But I couldn’t ever pick out the right idea.
Now? I’ve successfully completed the challenge three times. I’m closing on 300,000 words total for NaNoWriMo books. And I absolutely love the challenge.
Look, no one expects you to write the great American novel. Not in November. Not in December. Never. The world doesn’t care about what you wrote. It also doesn’t care what you haven’t written.
That’s why the challenge is for you. It’s not for anyone else. It’s your opportunity to show yourself that you can write a book. Yes. You have to grind out about 1600 words a day. Sure, you’ll be a little extra tired. Maybe you’ll have to sacrifice a social night.
But you’ll have a chance to accomplish something that scares people. You’ll have a chance to say you’ve written the book you’ve always wanted.
More than that, you’ll have a chance to learn about yourself.
Every book we write, every story we tell, gives us an inside look into ourselves. We learn about what we’re going through. We learn about the problems we’re worried about.
You can learn something about yourself by completing this challenge. And you’ll accomplish something that you’ve been meaning to accomplish for awhile.
Don’t be like me. Don’t be scared to take on the challenge. Take it on full force. Take it on with a positive attitude.
You’ll thank yourself when you’re done.
Herb Scribner 