I started this thing called NaNoWriMo at the first of this month. If you are not familiar with it, don’t worry, you are not alone. I just heard about it earlier this year. The acronym stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s an annual writing event where you must write a 50,000 word novel—from scratch—in one month. To break it up, you have to write 1,667 words a day, every day, for thirty days straight.
That’s a whole lot of words.
Now, you certainly don’t have to sit around and wait for November to arrive each year to start writing a novel. You could sit down and write one anytime you wanted to. But would you? This platform is a way to commit yourself to the task of writing and receive encouragement from others doing the same thing.
I have been writing for eight days straight. Fortunately, I have about two hours a day on the bus to complete this task so time is not an issue for me. So, what’s the problem you ask?
The problem is, I don’t always “feel like” writing. Especially 1,667 words a day. Even if I have the time to do it. And, by the way, I still have to write a post for this blog.
That’s even more words.
My point is this. Many times, perhaps most times, we are not going to “feel like” doing the things that challenge us. If we wait to “feel like it” it will probably never get done.
Here’s the thing – Actions don’t follow feelings. Feelings follow actions.
Have you ever gone to the gym when you didn’t feel like it? You just forced yourself to go anyway? I bet you felt better after you went . I always do.
So, even though I don’t feel like writing, I write anyway. And I feel better when I am done because I did what I set out to do.
Now, if I could just figure out how to credit these 300 or so words to today’s NaNoWriMo word count that would really make me feel great!
