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National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is upon us. I have challenged myself to write a novel I’ve wanted to write for over 30 years. Maybe longer but whose counting? I am! I’ve waited way too long to get this story together and it’s time to challenge myself and get to it. To quote Anne LaMott, It’s time to write that “Shitty First Draft” so that I can the start to shape it into the story I want to tell before it is way too late.
Think about making your own writing challenges. That means challenges that are right for you. NaNoWriMo is not the only challenge. Challenge yourself to write something you’ve put off and give yourself a time limit.
You don’t need to start in November either. You can start anytime. The challenge does not have to be as large as a novel only enough for you to feel as if you are stretching yourself as a writer. 30 days is a good length of time to work with but it is up to you to decide what makes for a good challenge.
Examples:
Write a poem every day for 30 days
Write one story in 30 days
Write three pages every morning for one month
But you do not have to keep your challenge within a one month time frame.
Think about what Ray Bradbury once said: “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”
So challenge yourself and write.