Sunday, October 18, 2009

Guest Blog: The NaNoWriMo Journey


The NaNowriMo Journey
By Scott R. Davis
www.scottrdavis.blogspot.com
Click here

A couple of years ago, I read some poetry for one of the arts organizations and signed up for their newsletter for the national writing competition, NaNoWriMo. It is a fascinating experience that I thoroughly enjoyed participating in. Previous to ...this, one of my best college friends challenged me to write about my life story. I have been involved in a memoir workshop also.

When I started out on my journey towards the 50 thousand words in November 1 2007, I had no idea of how hard it would actually become. I tried to figure out how many words I typed on a given day and tried entering it onto one of the word count screens. Later I learned that the robots which feverishly count the word totals of the novellas did not actually report to the job until the 25th of the month. The robots were still being trained and I lost the chance to type an extra 500 words on those days.

What I got out of the experience was reading and hearing of the accomplishments and pitfalls of other local writers. I never joined the write-a-thons but read of what they did and was encouraged by that. When I take on a challenge, I hate to lose and become a failure. Like the time that I was determined as a teenager on an island in Maine when I went on a round trip journey to get to a local book sale at the library to find out it was finished. I picked through the few remaining books and then set out on the 3 mile return. Exhausted yet satisfied of taking on that challenge.

That is what a lot of my writing is and the NaNoWriMo challenge is an encouraging venture to put oneself on. The greatest benefit is that it is a motivation to write and share ones heart on the screen and not be afraid of what someone will say about us. A chance to bear some deep secrets through poetry and a chance to later share those thoughts with our loved ones.

The work makes a great Christmas present which I presented to my parents in December 2007.

Let the challenge begin for everyone on November 1, 2009 at 12:00 am. through November 30th at 11:59 p.m. Join me and many other thousands at www.nanowrimo.org Click here for the thrill of a lifetime!!!!!!





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