At Day 21 of this month, after a writing marathon
that spanned the better part of twenty-four hours, I completed my novel at 72,
406 words—far past the NaNoWriMo challenge of 50,000 words. This amount of writing marks a personal best
for me. I had previously written a
70,000 word novel in thirty days—the book which provided the seed for this most
recent one—but I blew through all of my expectations for NaNoWriMo. I hadn’t written in close to three months
prior to beginning this novel, and I had an irrational fear that I wouldn’t
even remember how to form a sentence, much less an entire book. Throughout the course of the project, I
pushed myself to write past my limits, to think critically about my characters
and further explore what went on inside their heads, what made them tick, and
what they were afraid of. In the course
of this, I think I discovered something about myself: for as long as I enjoy writing, I will do it,
regardless of the number of readers I reach.
Writing is a task that fosters creativity, personal growth, and
introspection, three things I need in my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment