For the entire month of November, I engaged in my first National Novel Writing Month also known as NaNoWriMo. The goal is simple. Write every day for thirty days. Produce 1667 words every day you write. Add them up at the end and put out a old school novel of approximately 50,000 words (175 pages give or take). Unfortunately, most novels today have twice that many words but the idea is there.If you are a writing procrastinator or unwilling to commit yourself to the task of writing everyday, you will not manage to complete this task. If you say you are a would-be novelist, you will find the will to sit down and focus every day until you complete it. If you have a novel in you, you can wait for NaNoWriMo or you can put yourself there psychologically and go for writing every day for thirty days. There were an estimated 175,000 participants from all over the world, broken out by region on the NaNoWriMo.org site. The estimate is that 20% or so will complete the undertaking.
I planned from the moment I started that I would finish. I never doubted it. I had a bunch of different tools to help me but the secret of the my success was the burning desire to finish. It was important to me to finish. In a world where you are only as good or as important as your last accomplishment, this felt really good. I also found myself on the Blackweb 2.0 & HP's Technology Tastemaker which lists the top African Americans in Technology and Social media listing this month too. This was an awesome month for me. You can click here to learn more about my novel and even read an excerpt from it. You can read another excerpt at: http://ebonstorm.weebly.com.
But I had never written that much about any single thing in such a short period of time. Okay, that is not true. I did have another piece of work I was working on and considered it for the NaNoWriMo, but I wanted to be honest and create a completely new work. And I am glad I did. This new piece is something I have been dreaming about for almost ten years now. It is great to see it taking shape, even better than I had hoped.
I have written for a living most of my adult life, but until the last few years, I did not consider myself a writer. I know. That seems strange doesn’t it? Doing this taught me about my hidden writer’s blocks that kept me from doing something I really enjoy.
The weirdest part of it all is when I think deeply on it, I have always written and it seemed to be a part of every job I have ever had. And I was good at it. Why then, did I not consider writing to be something I wanted to do?
I had written a wide array of documents: White Papers? Check. PowerPoint Presentations? Check. Speaking engagements and lectures? Check. Business Proposals? Check. Technical presentations? Check. Grants? Check? Term Papers? Check. Essays? Check. Magazine articles? Check. Editor/Publisher? Check. Strange, huh?
Now with just a bit of luck and perseverance I can add one more to that list.
Author? Check.
Now, to get to work on PostNaNo, which in the month of December if you had more novel to go once you finished in November, PostNaNo keeps you honest, on track and trying to finish that novel completely.
Now that I am done with NaNoWriMo, I can get back to uncovering all those things Man was not meant to know or remember, or even to consider important. Wake up People! The revolution will not be televised. It will be preempted for Dancing with the Stars.
If you are hungry for news, a potpourri of different articles, science, news, technology, finance, you can get those things on my Tumblr blog at: http://mediasphere.tumblr.com. I have not been lying completely down on the job.
I planned from the moment I started that I would finish. I never doubted it. I had a bunch of different tools to help me but the secret of the my success was the burning desire to finish. It was important to me to finish. In a world where you are only as good or as important as your last accomplishment, this felt really good. I also found myself on the Blackweb 2.0 & HP's Technology Tastemaker which lists the top African Americans in Technology and Social media listing this month too. This was an awesome month for me. You can click here to learn more about my novel and even read an excerpt from it. You can read another excerpt at: http://ebonstorm.weebly.com.But I had never written that much about any single thing in such a short period of time. Okay, that is not true. I did have another piece of work I was working on and considered it for the NaNoWriMo, but I wanted to be honest and create a completely new work. And I am glad I did. This new piece is something I have been dreaming about for almost ten years now. It is great to see it taking shape, even better than I had hoped.
I have written for a living most of my adult life, but until the last few years, I did not consider myself a writer. I know. That seems strange doesn’t it? Doing this taught me about my hidden writer’s blocks that kept me from doing something I really enjoy.
The weirdest part of it all is when I think deeply on it, I have always written and it seemed to be a part of every job I have ever had. And I was good at it. Why then, did I not consider writing to be something I wanted to do?
I had written a wide array of documents: White Papers? Check. PowerPoint Presentations? Check. Speaking engagements and lectures? Check. Business Proposals? Check. Technical presentations? Check. Grants? Check? Term Papers? Check. Essays? Check. Magazine articles? Check. Editor/Publisher? Check. Strange, huh?
Now with just a bit of luck and perseverance I can add one more to that list.
Author? Check.
Now, to get to work on PostNaNo, which in the month of December if you had more novel to go once you finished in November, PostNaNo keeps you honest, on track and trying to finish that novel completely.
Now that I am done with NaNoWriMo, I can get back to uncovering all those things Man was not meant to know or remember, or even to consider important. Wake up People! The revolution will not be televised. It will be preempted for Dancing with the Stars.
If you are hungry for news, a potpourri of different articles, science, news, technology, finance, you can get those things on my Tumblr blog at: http://mediasphere.tumblr.com. I have not been lying completely down on the job.
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