First Week of NaNoWriMo!

I’m glad to share with you some very exciting news! This week signals the start of NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month. Writing a novel sounds hard enough; how about writing one in 30 days? It may sound crazy, but this program has inspired tens of thousands of people to finally write that book they’ve been ideating. I’ve had the joy of participating twice before, both times hitting the goal of 50,000 words and thriving on the author pep talk emails, messages from local writers, “write-in” sessions at local coffee shops and libraries, and the sense of accountability and progress towards a definite goal. I do have trepidation as to whether I can do it this month with all of the “life” going on, but we’re six days in and so far, I have successfully carved out the time to write 1,667 words per day or more!

Because I’d started the Ruah novel earlier this year and had about 32,000 words on it with a rough outline, I decided to hack NaNoWriMo this year and reconfigure it to finish Ruah, rather than start a new book. To do so, I entered in the original amount, 32,000-ish words, and a slightly higher goal: 60,000 words. I’m hoping that will help me accomplish both the new writing and rewriting that needs to be done to consider Ruah a complete first draft by November 30.

How will I know when it’s done? As I’ve read, many authors have a hard time considering any work final. For me, I’m going to call it a first draft when the chapter outline is fleshed out and November 30 arrives. Then the work of revising (“All writing is rewriting,” according to Ernest Hemingway) begins in December.

Continuing on The Artist’s Way

I’ve been keeping up with a weekly dose of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Like a horoscope, each week’s messages seem unusually timely! Her experience in leading generations of creatives to unblock their creativity shines through in these chapters lately. I find myself inspired, encouraged, and excited for each week.

Here are some standout quotes that resonated with me from Week 9. What do you think of these ideas?

Apologies for keeping it short this week. I’m saving most of my writing fuel for Ruah and will keep you posted!

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