Mini-NaMeWriMo

As I mentioned on Twitter/Facebook, I was thinking of joining NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, where people try to write 50,000 words of a novel. Fiction doesn't interest me, but I thought of doing a memoir. Still, 50,000 words felt way too daunting during a month with so much happening. I thought I would give up too easily. But I thought how great it would be to finish the month with some serious writng done. I decided to focus on 20,000 words, about a thousand words a day for twenty days. Considering how I normally type (font, spacing, and all that), that would be over sixty pages of text, which is a phenomenal amount.

I will start with some scenes surrounding my mother's death. I've had some stuff swirling in my head for a while that I want to get out. After I've done that, I plan to complete some of the exercises in some of the writing books I have on the shelf. Frankly, that's what excites me, the writing that will come spontaneously. Maybe it'll be a waste of time, but I doubt that. As a teacher, I think that completing any writing has its benefits, so I think anything I generate has the potential to lead to something. I like thinking of that potential and will use those thoughts to fuel my writing later in the month.

I've added a little spot in the right sidebar to keep track of my writing. In a few minutes, it'll be November. Perhaps I'll get a few words down before I get to bed.