Challenging my Creativity

For years (and yes, I mean years) I have wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo. For those of you who think that I've learned to speak Japanese, that is an acronym for National November Writing Month. The purpose of this trend within the writing community is to encourage people to write a 50,000 word novel in a month.

As an aspiring author, NaNoWriMo has always been an appealing challenge that I wanted to participate in, but something always got in the way. Typically, it was that pesky thing called college, but now that I have my degree, the only excuse I have to not participate is a dirty house and an overflowing laundry hamper. Fortunately, cleaning and folding clothing are perfect breaks for me, and breaks give me the opportunity to mentally draft the next chapter.

What will I be spending the month of November writing, you ask? Well, I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but my most recent creation is a wealthy widow who returns to Regency London after living abroad for a decade. Upon arriving, she experiences love, lust, heartbreak, and happiness, all while coping with the death of her husband, the wild behavior of her step son, and the wrath of her bitter, fortune-seeking mother. Sound wickedly fantastic? I think so too.

I have never lacked the creativity of writing a couple hundred page novel; I can make literary figures suffer in more ways and jump through more hoops than some people could imagine possible. My weakness lies in my perfectionist personality. It could easily take me a few hours to write a page due to changing the wording of a sentence fifteen times before being satisfied with the result. Therefore, while I will still strive to write 50,000 words, I will first work toward 25,000 words that have not been changed half a dozen times. Perhaps I am not pushing myself as much by lowering my expectations, but housewives do have some duties other than cleaning the bathroom and going to the grocery store!

I strongly encourage all my friends who are interested in writing to consider participating in NaNoWriMo. It doesn't matter if your writing is horrible, or if you start over because you hate everything you've written. There's only one way to improve: practice. Visit the NaNoWriMo website here for more information. Happy writing, everyone!

Here's a helpful guide that outlines every author's life.