Another novel?
Unless you can answer yes to that, then go on with your day.
However, if you bow your head in shame and mumble 'no', you need to meet me at camera 3 (or if you don't watch Jon Stewart you can just read the rest of this blog).
Did you have hopes and dreams and aspirations of getting your first (or second or fifteen) novel written?
What happened? #no #seriously What?
Writing a novel is no big deal. I know, I know I can hear the wailing from here, but really if the task itself didn't seem so epic and your very soul did not hang in the balance, the actual physical act of writing a book is no big deal.
On average you need 350 pages (more or less for each genre). There are 52 weeks in the year. Just the simple math means that you just needed to write 6.7 pages per WEEK. Not day. Not hour. Per week.
That breaks down to less than a page per day.
I mean, come on. I know we get busy and life is hectic but less than a page per day?
Not that, that is doable.
As I have stated before, consistency is the key. Writing every day. Thinking, plotting, and editing becomes a routine part of your life. There is no more 'carving' out of time.
Why did I write this blog now? You know rather than Dec 31st?
Well because NaNoWriMo is coming up in November. It is an event where you write a book in a month. While it is not my cup of tea, it has helped jump start people by getting huge chunks of a book or a complete book done.
But what about it you can't throw your life to the wind for an entire month?
Just remember that 0.96 pages per day will get you a book in a year. 0.96 #totallydoable
Do you really want to be here next October having to hang your head in shame saying that yet another year has gone by without your book done (or marketed, but for advice on that head on over to @indiebookibc).
So for anyone not participating in NaNoWriMo this year, how about you accept a different challenge?
My 0.96 pages per day challenge.
For accountability please make a pledge down below in a comment. I will have a blog once a month to see how our 28.7 pages per month are going.
Don't let another year slip by! #duh
Posts
I'll pledge! I complain a great deal about how hard writing is.
ReplyDeleteI pledge!
ReplyDeleteI'm doing nano, for discipline. To help me get hone in my habit of writing every day. I know I will not finish the 50,000 words before the month is up. I just need the bullying of nano to help me write everyday. But with this challenge of yours, I'm seriously rethinking of it. I don't do pressure well, or chaos, and this is not that.
Hmm.
Thank you. :)
I can write BOTH books, at 0.96 pages a day, and not feel guilty for neglecting either during November.
this was interesting ...what if your book is just a bunch of random things with no coherent plot or purpose
ReplyDeleteThis is why I adore Carolyn. She totally knows how to get my behind in a chair and just #write everyday. Thank you ;)
ReplyDeleteI have never done NaNo, mainly because writing that fast is not my process, but I have written better than a book a year for the past 6 years, so I totally agree with you that it's doable. I'm a little less regimented than you are, but I do have a goal of 1K a day, or 5K a week. I don't always hit that goal. It's more of a guideline (insert Pirates of the Caribbean reference here, lol)
ReplyDeleteWhat I do accomplish is to spend time every day either writing on the WIP, editing the last completed manuscript, plotting, planning, researching, critiquing, and/or freewriting. So I'm doing something related to the craft every day.
By the end of the year, (not the calendar year, my writing year, which starts at the end of the summer) I will complete the current WIP. My pledge. :)
Happy writing!