November 1 is the first day of the annual NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge; although it is certainly an International effort now, and has been since almost day 1.
For the last few years – ever since I first heard of NaNo infact – I have been telling myself I’d do this. And, me being me, I never did. I think one year I may have started a novel, but from Day 2 onwards nothing happened.
Anyway, I’m determined this year. I have the story idea – actually something I began penning out a little while ago – and it’s a good one, I think. I won’t go into detail on what’s involved in the storyline specifically, but the basics are: it’s set in London, weird shit is happening around the main character while all he wants to do is fall in love. By ‘weird shit’ I mean intensely weird shit, but we’ll get to that once it’s done.
I’ve been reading a lot of what Merlin Mann has been posting lately while he works on his book Inbox Zero which, despite the title, is – I believe – mainly about just forcing yourself into being creative or doing whatever it is you’ve always wanted to do but keep coming up with excuses to not do.
Think about something you’ve been really excited to make or do. Maybe something you’ve been thinking about starting for weeks, months, or even years. Dance lessons? Short story? Web comic? MAME cabinet? Tree house? Doomsday laser? Excel spreadsheet? What stops you?
Remember now, we’re not talking about finishing a project or even making something that you know will be the greatest thing ever made. Just starting. What’s the barrier for you?
So what has the barrier been for me?
I think mostly just the thought of wanting to do it properly – not being prepared to do a shitty first draft – and also basically laziness. Or, rather, I have preferred to come up with a multitude of ideas rather than concentrate on doing one of them (well or badly).
Come November 1, I hope to stop that; I will sit down that night and just start hammering out the beginning of my story and each night, I will sit down again and continue on where I left off. And by the end of November, even if I don’t have a completed novel, I will have 50,000 words of something.