NaNo Prep 2011, day 23 - CONTEST ROUND

Write a commitment letter to yourself, promising to do your best during the month of November, and vowing to not allow distractions or procrastination to keep you from your goal. Explain in the letter why you are awesome, how you plan to complete NaNo 2011, and what you will do to celebrate when you win.

Dear Amygdalia,

As you begin NaNoWriMo 2011, I want you to know that I am already extremely proud of you!  In completing the October Prep, you have already far exceeding any previous attempts at putting together a writing project of this magnitude.

You know your characters inside and out; you know their needs, their hopes, their dreams, their motivations, and their fears.  You know the hurdles and challenges they must face, and you know how to help them face and pass each one.  By completing this challenge, I feel you have already won, in so many ways.

Your motivation has taken giant strides, and you know that continuing to work on this project will only add to that.  Make a promise to yourself to work on this project every day, even if you’re not able to make your daily word quota.  I know you have some major distractions to keep you from working daily (such as a cross country trip,  family commitments, and many non-school days for your children) but you can do this if you remember that taking time for yourself is important REGARDLESS of what else is going on in your life.  So, take some extra time on the plane to cram in an extra thousand words or so.  Know that you’re going to be super busy that Saturday and allow yourself to not stress about it, but remember that you can keep going.  Don’t let it derail you, but take it as a breather, just as you’ve been allowed breathers during NaNo Prep!

The one gift I want to give you, the one thing I want to make absolutely certain you take with you as you undertake this project, is the understanding that this story will not burst fully formed from your head, as Athena from the head of Zeus.  And that’s all right.  Each sentence does not have to be perfect.  Each word does not have to be exactly the right one.  You can edit to your heart’s delight, once NaNoWriMo is over and the first draft of your novel is complete.  In fact, you will edit, and quite a bit.  But even the stories of the gods did not emerge in a single burst of inspiration.  They were tweaked and re-imagined and were passed down orally from generation to generation until they ultimately became the myths we know today.  It’s all right to start with a sketchy story that needs tweaking and re-imagining, because you know in your heart that the story is there, waiting to be told.  You know that when it is just right, it will make a difference for the Young Adults who will read it and understand that it’s all right to be different; that it’s all right to have hopes and dreams and feelings that are different than those around them.  So have patience with yourself.  Allow that story to evolve as it is meant to, and it will be a gift not only to yourself, but to those who read it as well.

And when you’re done, when you have completed the NaNoWriMo challenge and written your 50,000 words, it will be time to celebrate!  You know you want to celebrate by going to Greece, but let’s make this a realistic celebration, and leave that for when your novel is published.  Instead, you’re going to plan a weekend away for yourself.  Perhaps you will go with a friend, perhaps alone.  It does not have to happen immediately, since the winter holidays follow closely on the tail of NaNoWriMo.  But the planning of the trip will not wait.  You WILL take this vacation.  You’ve earned it!


Happy Writing!
Me