I've thrown my metaphorical hat into the ring. I have signed up to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is --> link! http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano like magic!
It is really odd that I would choose to do this, for a few reasons: 1) I'm not an author, 2) I have no ambitions to be an author, 3) The vast majority of my writing is academic, typically history-related, 4) I'm currently writing my senior thesis to graduate, and 5) I don't have the time, energy or drive to "win."
But I'm going to give it a go anyway. I have never ever done anything like this before, and I'm not at all confident I'll finish anything on time, but how could you pass up the life experience? It's a big time commitment, but I'm risking very little for a chance to try something new, exciting, and challenging. I think if I can abstain from Korean dramas, reading, and video games for the month, I can do pretty well.
All in all, I have fairly low expectations of the result of my writing. I'm completely inexperienced and have to balance NaNoWriMo with my school work and academic writing. But I think that even if I don't finish my novel (which I assume I won't) I can be satisfied with my writing efforts and add it to my life resume.
As far as what I should write about, that is a bit more difficult. I have a bunch of story ideas that I've saved up over the years, but most of them more suited to a short story than a novel. Or I've outgrown the idea. Or I have a brilliant concept and a couple ideas for the story, but wouldn't want to write the whole thing. Sometimes I'm sure that creativity requires way more energy than I have available to me.
I have a week to come up with a plot I find exciting or compelling. Should be interesting.
Actually that probably encompasses my attitude toward NaNoWriMo, "Should be interesting." At the end of this month, I want to look back and feel that I was a part of an interesting and fun project alongside many more gifted authors. Let's try it!
Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!
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