To NaNo or not to NaNo...

... that is the question. 

I've had a few people ask me if I'm going to participate in this November's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Challenge and up until a few days ago, I was confident I would. Now, I'm not so sure. For those unfamiliar with the challenge, participants are required to write a minimum 50,000-word novel within the thirty days of November. If they do so, and it is validated with the official NaNoWriMo word counter, they are considered a winner and a few prizes and accolades are distributed. 

I participated and successfully completed the challenge last year, writing a 52101-word novel within the first 14 days of the month. It was not great fun but it was rewarding in that I accomplished the goal and was able to write The End on something of that magnitude. 

The story wasn't particularly enjoyable to me, it was something that had been rattling around in my head for years, so I didn't feel quite so much like I was writing but rather, taking dictation from my brain. It wasn't new, it wasn't exciting and it certainly wasn't something for which I had to struggle. Hence, the 14 day completion time.

This year, if I were to do it again, I would need to start now and begin blocking the plot, interviewing my characters and building the fictional world the story is set in. The process intrigues me but the time commitment doesn't. I have so many personal obligations, classes and trips scheduled between now and the end of the year, I don't know that I want to commit to something that overwhelming right now. 

Fiction writing is still important to me but I'm not sure this challenge is, at least not this year. I'm really enjoying my personal life right now and spending that many hours of the few non-working hours I have in a fictional world just doesn't have the appeal it did last year. I'm still mulling it over but I think my decision is quickly being made for me. 

Maybe next year?

The Theory of Creativity

Some months back, I found a writing seminar that combined hiking and photography with the writing curriculum. From what I remember, the theory of the class was that people who practiced photography would be better writers because taking photos forced them to look at the world and see it from different perspectives. 

A few of the authors that I follow on Twitter have other creative outlets besides writing, like painting, sketching, playing a musical instrument or growing roses. Although nobody has specifically expressed what role these other interests play in their writing careers, they do seem to be important to the person themselves.

What could something as seemingly unrelated as playing the violin or sketching still lifes have to do with writing? Theories could be made that having other creative passions makes you a more rounded individual and thus more interesting and someone with a more extensive pool of experiences from which to draw inspiration. Others may say that focusing your mind on something other than the story you're trying to tell gives your subconscious a chance to work on your plot or character development and allows you to come back to it refreshed and with a new energy. 

Whether or not there is a benefit to the writing, I don't think anyone could argue the benefit of having things in our lives that fulfill, renew or inspire us. I have never considered myself a particularly creative person. Other than my writing, I haven't explored any other interests in that area. Since finding the writing course I mentioned above, I decided to change that. I bought a DSLR camera and am learning how to use it. self-portrait - July 2010I enrolled in two workshops with two different life coaches to learn how to dream and how to live a courageous life. I went hiking up a mountain. I am considering teaching myself how to knit or crochet again. I want to find a pottery class. I may buy a keyboard so I can start playing the piano again. I want to learn to play the drums or the guitar.

I may not be good at any of these things. I may not enjoy all of them. But I love the idea of trying and seeing how things go. I think it would be fun to create a character in one of my stories who has one of these newfound interests as a passion and see how she explores it. My mind is buzzing with all the possibilities and my heart is finding joy from it. And that? That has to be good for my writing.