You Are the Change You Wish to See

Don't you know yet? It is your light that lights the worlds. - RumiIt’s official: NaNoWriMo is over, and I failed. So I’m reminding myself of Ghandi and Rumi and those other enlightened souls who point out that we really are only as good as we allow ourselves to be. The balance I’m looking for is only partially offered by continued success in school, and slightly less self-imposed stress.

Not that I’m not depressed about a few things this weekend. But I may finally have gotten over the unrealistic daily word count monster. I may not be producing multiple novels per year, as my lovely publisher plans for herself, but doing the math, I realized that a measly 500 words per day would result in 182,500 words in a year. Even with class at its most intensive, I think I can manage that much.

So I’ve mapped out my possible writing schedule for the next year. Tentatively, I still plan on releasing the final two installments of the Red Slaves series (January and July), and I’m making friends with short story formats, so there will be other releases in between. For instance, I’d like to honor fan requests for more about Petal (from Dementional).

Tonight, too, I gave in to a plot bunny, since I’ve been invited to participate in another short story anthology–of horror-tinged tales. While horror has never attracted me as a reader, based on feedback on Angel, Mine, my writing tribe has reminded me that not all horror is slasher-style, and sometimes what’s left unsaid leaves the biggest ghosts to haunt us. So I’ll be revisiting the genre periodically this year. Certainly, there is no shortage of horrifying news, both on a personal and on a global level, from which to draw inspiration. My hope is that my characters find the grace to navigate those waters in a way that avoids the murder/suicide headlines that continue to show up in the news.

Here’s hoping your weekend was sunnier than mine, and you get a chance to check out the other ROW80 participants’ progress.

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4 thoughts on “You Are the Change You Wish to See

  1. I really don’t like to see the word “failed”. NaNo is very stressful with it’s word count of 1667 a day to get to 50K. And if you miss one day, then you have to write even more per day. So, just say NaNo wasn’t really for you. You didn’t fail. Failing is only when you stop writing, and that’s a conscious decision.

    I stopped stressing over word count. I started saying I was going to sit in front of my computer for an hour, and whatever words came out, that was my word count. I do keep up with word count after the fact, but while I’m writing, I don’t worry about it. It will be what it will be in that hour.

  2. I like the idea of doing 500 words a day (or occasionally having to skip days and only having an extra 500 to make up for). I’m also trying to write more short stories now. I find I am more productive when I write short stories.

    I don’t think you should beat yourself up about not winning NaNoWriMo this year. I’ve won it for the past four years, but I haven’t published a novel yet and you HAVE! So be proud of what you have already accomplished. The rest of it will come; you are making steady progress towards all of it.

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