The
first of November was the start of the 14th annual Nation Novel Writing Month -
NaNoWriMo (http://nanowrimo.org). What started with 21
people in the San Francisco Bay area challenging each other to write 50,000
words, the skeleton of a novel, in a month, has become a global phenomenon. In
2010 200,000 people registered on the website and joined the community. This
year, it's 277,000 budding writers and counting.
I'm
one of them.
My
blog is all about the power of ideas and this movement in many way epitomizes
that.
It
starts with a dare, a challenge, a comment, a spark.
It takes hold, and in our
globally interconnected world, infects people with a sudden, uncontrollably
contagious strain of creativity.
A comment
like;
"I've always wanted to write a book."
Whenever
I tell people I'm a writer and write books, if I had a pound for everyone who
said that, I'd make more money than I ever would selling
books!
But
why do so many of us dream of writing?
The short
answer is because we can.
There's
a long answer, but that would involve an academic study on what drives us to be
creative and what motivates us.
And
why do we need a website to get us going?
The
simple answer is because we need to belong.
We need to feel like we're part of
something bigger than ourselves. Pack mentality, safety in numbers, whatever
you want to call it. Being around others, even in a virtual sphere, encourages
us. We are fundamentally social creatures.
What
stops us just getting on with it? If so many of us would like to write a book,
why don’t we?
Motivation.
Confidence. Fear. Time. Commitments. Responsibilities. Laziness. etc
etc.
We
will always find something else to do...Procrastination.
Procrastination
is an affliction that affects 70% of us.
I'm probably doing it right now as I type this instead of actually
working on my NaNoWriMo - I do appreciate the irony of
that!
But
there is a greater irony in the NaNo website itself.
Take
a quick glance and there are forums, discussion boards, questions, articles,
tips, advice, support, merchandise - it's endless. Pages and pages of
procrastination!
Perhaps this is another way for me to procrastinate - but to keep me inspired and the organise my web research for my NaNoWriMo project, I've started a Pinterest page:
Be
part of the community, feel supported - yes. But the most important thing is
just to do it. To write. Write. Write, and keep writing. That's what writers
do.
Speaking
of which....I have a novel to write...
