What Fun

I finally gave in to some new characters. They appeared in my head and demanded that I try Nanowrimo. For those who don’t know, Nanowrimo is an annual writing challenge held in November. The idea is that participants write a 50,000 word novel during the month. It isn’t a competition, rather a personal achievement. See http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano for details.

If I am honest, I was dreading it, as I saw only the pressure to perform and the fear of failure. Three days in and I am loving it. The story is literally coming out of my ears. I think I am channelling! I had completed today’s target by 10am and have made numerous quick notes during the day to point me in the right direction for tomorrow's writing. I expect things might get a bit harder further in, but I’m not allowing myself to think of that for now. The great thing is that loads of my friends are taking part too, so there is plenty support and encouragement around.

The Nanowrimo website is rather annoying, as it does not seem to be able to cope with the volume of users and crashes frequently. It also seems to take forever to change something on your account.

The main thing for me is that I am having so much fun with the writing. Maybe my true voice is emerging at last. I am busy researching in between writing – ancient curses, talismans and herbal medicine. I’m going to pace myself, so I am aiming for 1,700 words a day. Giving myself a gold star for today’s performance.