YESTERDAY, I MADE A POST that I would write an entire novel in the month of November. A few years ago, I read about Novel November, also known as National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) where authors push themselves to write an entire novel 50-70k words in the span of 30 days. I forget who said it, but someone once said that a decent novel can be written in one month. Most of my short stories that consist of 6-8k words are written in 7-10 days. I generally write 600 words or for an hour (whichever comes first). The exploratory phase depends on how long I plan to write the story, and character development goes along with that phase. This phase will take me anywhere from a few days to a week. But the actual writing of a short story, 7-10 days. I never take a break from the writing, unless I need to revisit the exploratory phase because something in the story isn’t adding up. I get up every morning at 5 and write until I’ve met my goal. Will I be able to write for 30 days straight? The hell if I know. I won’t know unless I give it an effort.

This is what confuses me about people who have been working on a book for a year or more. While I understand that, if it’s nonfiction or involves a ton of research, (medical, historical, etc.) I don’t see why a novel should take more than a year. 

This novel that I’m writing will only be a first draft, and I’m sure it will be rough – it always is. I have just over a week to work on the characters, the setting, and a rough outline to make it happen. I have no idea how often I’ll update my blog, considering I have to write between 1,200-1,500 words a day, but I’ll definitely update as I go along.

I was reading a financial book once where the author said, “Let’s say you want to make a million dollars in a year. So you bust your ass, hustle, give it your all, and at the end of the year, you check your account and have just over $700,000. Did you meet your goal? No you did not. But are you going to be upset you have $700,000 in your account? No you will not.”

That’s the same as this, or any other goal you have in life. Let’s say at the end of the month of November, I don’t have the full 50k words, but just over 30k. Did I meet my goal? No I did not. Am I going to be upset that I only have 30k words? No I will not. 

Once I finish the first draft, I will put it aside and work on another short story, and then revisit it for a second draft, which might not be until Januaryish. Then, I will do another short story, and then finally, work on the third draft and then hopefully get it published. It’s my goal to not just be self published, but to also be traditionally published. 

So, if you’ve wanted to do something, why not write out the goal, and give it a go in November? If you try and fail, at least you’ll know. Anyone who sets out on a goal, even if they fail, is better than the person sitting on the couch doing nothing with their life. And as Jim Carey once said, “you can fail at something you hate, so if you’re going to fail, you might as well fail at something you love.”

Put your goal out there on Facebook and Instagram, and let the world know – for 3 reasons. 1. You never know who you’ll inspire. You were inspired by someone, so be someone else’s inspiration. 2. It forces you to get up off your ass and make that shit happen. People are too scared of embarrassing themselves. Fear of looking stupid is what’s keeping you where you are. 3. You’ll know who should be in your life. Those who support you will encourage you. Those who are douchebags will discourage you. Walk away from negativity. You don’t need that shit in your life. I’ve said it before, people make it easy for you. If they’re into you, they’ll let you know by their actions.

So here I go … wish me luck. 

Photo Credit: Green Chameleon @craftedbygc