I Like Challenges

November 4, 2014November 4, 2014 by theseordinarygraces In Goals, NaNoWriMo 6 Comments

So I did a crazy thing. I signed up for a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Say what?!

You may or may not have heard of NaNoWriMo, aka National Novel Writing Month. It’s a big challenge group basically. The goal is to sit down and write a 50,000 word novel. Not perfectly. Not ready for publication. Just. Write. It. So many people say they want to write a book and then just don’t get around to it.

I used to want to write a book. Then life got busy and I lost track of a lot of the things I wanted to do. Honestly, it would be so easy to say, “Nope. Not right now. ” I could make lots of excuses, some could even sound legitimate. Homeschooling combined with a temporary season of single-parenting alone is enough for me to cringe. Really, though, what else am I going to do when the kids go to bed? My usual routine is to turn on the TV and watch hours of television while stuffing myself with tortilla chips and salsa and wine. . . OR I could “use my brain,” as I like to tell the kids, and be creative. Now there’s a thought.

I don’t expect to get published; that’s not why I’m doing this. The not-so-simple act of sitting down again and again to write and edit and imagine has been so therapeutic so far. It takes discipline. And discipline is something I lack in a big, big way. There’s an added bonus of falling asleep faster, too. That’s always nice.

At the end of this I might have a new passion for writing fiction or I might decide it’s not for me. At the very least, I’ll have a story to read to the kids and the knowledge that I can do whatever I put my mind to.