My friend on the last day of September wrote on Facebook that she was doing a 31 day blog challenge. I know signing up for a challenge the day before was doomed but I thought why no try. Everyone likes a challenge. I tried to write a daily post in October with NaNoWriMo as the theme. It was all part of a 31 day challenge that I failed in week one but on the other hand I really didn't fail. Oxymoron right? Failed but didn't. How do you fail but succeed?
Here is why I feel like I succeeded even though on October 31st I will not have 31 entries. My 16 post so far in October are more than 5x's the amount I had in September. It isn't all about word count in NaNoWriMo. Any word counts. 50,000 is a goal but not the whole goal of NaNoWriMo. The goal of 50,000 is there to get you to have a number to focus on, a number to lead you in November. The goal is writing.
Here is the way I approach writing. Every word I write is success because it equals more writing. The first year I did NaNoWriMo I wrote less than 10,000 words. Did I win NaNoWriMo? No, but I wrote more than the year before. Last year I wrote and got to the goal but the story was hardly compete or worthy of publishing. What NaNoWriMo has done is gotten me to write a story. It has given me a reason to write. The more I write, the more I want to write. The more I write the better I will get at writing. Those facts are success.
A bad day writing is better than not writing at all. Don't be too harsh on your word count. Look at every word as a success because it is one more word you didn't write yesterday. Even if you get 500 words and fall short of the 50,000 goal you still have 500 words. When you put in your word count into NaNoWriMo and your finish date is projected for July 2016 don't quit! If you wrote something that is worth celebrating.
Here is why I feel like I succeeded even though on October 31st I will not have 31 entries. My 16 post so far in October are more than 5x's the amount I had in September. It isn't all about word count in NaNoWriMo. Any word counts. 50,000 is a goal but not the whole goal of NaNoWriMo. The goal of 50,000 is there to get you to have a number to focus on, a number to lead you in November. The goal is writing.
Here is the way I approach writing. Every word I write is success because it equals more writing. The first year I did NaNoWriMo I wrote less than 10,000 words. Did I win NaNoWriMo? No, but I wrote more than the year before. Last year I wrote and got to the goal but the story was hardly compete or worthy of publishing. What NaNoWriMo has done is gotten me to write a story. It has given me a reason to write. The more I write, the more I want to write. The more I write the better I will get at writing. Those facts are success.
A bad day writing is better than not writing at all. Don't be too harsh on your word count. Look at every word as a success because it is one more word you didn't write yesterday. Even if you get 500 words and fall short of the 50,000 goal you still have 500 words. When you put in your word count into NaNoWriMo and your finish date is projected for July 2016 don't quit! If you wrote something that is worth celebrating.
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