This month I’m participating in NaNoWriMo. Since I won’t have as much time to blog, I asked some of my favorite bloggers to guest post for me – and some of them were actually willing to do it. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do; they have become my friends through this crazy little thing known as the internet, and I’m grateful for their support. -Tricia
By Desiree Miller
Is there something in your life that you always dreamed you’d accomplish by now that you just haven’t done yet, for whatever reason?
I always said I’d write a book.
I started one six different times over.
But last year, when I started, I finished, and I have to give credit to the NaNoWriMo community.
Never heard of it?
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writers Month. It’s an annual event that kicks off on November 1st . You sign up online, start your writing on the first and have to finish by the 30th. The goal is 50,000 words. In one month. And yes, it can be done.
If you’re the kind to break it down by day, that’s 1667 words a day.
I know me and I always burn out about half way through anything I start, so I told myself I had to double that number each day.
The first couple days were the hardest.
But I was really flying by day 5 at more than 13,000 words.
So I gave myself a break.
That was a big mistake.
The next time I got to writing my novel was the day before Thanksgiving.
Yeah, that was a really long break in between, and I was very doubtful I would finish by the end of the month.
But you know what? I did finish. In fact, I finished one day early!
In all, I only wrote for 8 days.
The novel literally poured out of me.
And that’s the crazy part.
It was something I had thought about for so very long. Yet, once I sat down to do it, the actual writing wasn’t tough.
I spent years thinking about it. And eight days doing it.
Being part of a community that shared the same goal helped me jump off the cliff, so to speak. And knowing I failed that community by not finishing was enough to motivate me to get back on it.
It all got me thinking, what else was I hoping to accomplish that I had sat on for years and years? And what was holding me back from getting it done?
Maybe you have a project parked in your heart, too. What is it? And what’s holding you back?
Buckle up because I’m busy! I’m a proud mom, tennis fan, triathlete, baby planner, event organizer, entrepreneur, TV news producer, and writer for web & print. I love a challenge, dark chocolate, sunny days at the beach and laughing with friends (not necessarily in that order). I blog at Stress Free Baby.
One Comment on "Dreaming into doing"
Trackbacks for this post