Ever since I was an undergrad, I’ve been working intermittently on a book based on a Scottish fairy tale that I love. Other things are higher priority, and I’ve never really thought I’d get it published except as a “wouldn’t it be cool if someday” thing. Given that my day job involves working on other people’s writing, I rarely have the time or energy to devote to my own, which I usually consider that I’m doing mainly for fun, in hopes of one day actually finishing.
Last year I started a new version during Nanowrimo that completely turned the story I’d been writing around and gave it an edge that was completely me. I’ve only written about 12,000 words during that time, though–most of which was during Nanowrimo. Then I got sick in late Nov./early Dec. and it’s been all I could do to get to work and do that stuff, and coming home at night and writing really was out of the question.
But I don’t want to say “someday” anymore. I’ve actually outlined it this last week and know what I want to happen (which I’ve been stuck on). I wrote 2800 words today (whew! how’d that happen?
), and I think I can make a goal of finishing a first draft by the end of November. I think that’s doable, even if every day doesn’t produce the word count of a night like tonight. At 60,000-70,000 words finished (I think), I’m already 1/4 way there, right? 🙂
So I’ve decided to join in on JoNoWriMo, a private extension by author J.B. Knowles and her friends on NaNo. Most of the participants are writers working on existing projects, so they decided to get a month and a half head start on NaNo and accomplish whatever individual goal they set out to accomplish.
I freely admit it won’t be my top priority, or even second or third, but it’s good to have a goal to work toward, and it’ll get me doing *something*. I think it’ll be fun, and now that I’m starting to feel better at least some of the time, it’ll be a much more productive use of my evenings than watching Crossing Jordan reruns. (Much as I like how Crossing Jordan makes me nostalgic for Boston. 😉 )