Ermahgerd, thernly verrled NerNerWriMer perst!
Ahem, blech, hrrrruugggg. Cough.
Oh my god! Thinly veiled NaNoWriMo Post!
It’s October and we all know what that means. Pumpkin ale, and raking leaves, and Cinammon Apple Yankee Candles for everyone! Oh, and NaNoWriMo 2012 starts in roughly one month. 27 days to be more accurate, or 26, really, since today halfway over.
Last time, I talked loosely about preparation. What and how and why we’re going to punish our brains throughout November. I even made some new masochistic writing friends! I’ve been spending my off-time (what little there is of it) working on the outlines for my stories and building the structure that I plan to fit them all into. It’s a steaming mess of Word docs right now, but the idea is gestating and hopefully my little bundle of literary joy will be nearly fully formed come December 1.
But today, I’m more concerned about the future. The time beyond NaNo 2012, the cosmic unknown of days and events that have only happened in our dreams. Things like NaNoWriMo are great catalysts for getting shit done, but they beg the much larger questions: why are you writing a novel and what do you plan to do once you’ve written it?
Phil (via Writer’s Codex) got me thinking about why I write, and what that means about the person I am and the person I want to be. I write partly out of catharsis, partly for fun, and partly as a manual “Save As…” function for my brain. I’ve got a lot of potent abstracts bouncing around in there, and writing makes me feel like I’ve got a way to catalog them. A Dewey decimal system for my ideas, emotions, musings, and memories, if you will.
And more importantly, I write because it makes my brain all bubbly with joy, which makes life that little bit sweeter.
The why of writing is a philosophical abstract; it’s the same as asking why some people merely like cookies and some people would commit felonies for a tray of freshly baked chocolate chip wonder. We may never know the answer. You can muse on it all day, but may never find an answer that truly satisfies your self indulgent inquiry.
It’s brain-stretching to think about why I write, but it doesn’t get me very far in terms of my craft. I prefer specifics; concrete ideas with real, undeniable answers. Something with some weight behind it, like a good machete or a loaf of stale french bread.
To that end, I’ve established goals that I constantly remind myself of to keep me on track. They are, as of today:
-Finish my masters by the end of 2013 (slated to write my thesis next fall)
-Publish my first “large work” (this could be a number of things) before I’m 30 (I’m 27 on Oct. 21)
-Update my blog (to keep my writing muscles toned) at least twice a week
-Make writing a priority over other non-mandatory things (as fun as Borderlands 2 is, it isn’t going to satiate that creative thirst)
-Enjoy the act of writing, not just the final product (because, duh)
These have kept me focused and committed, even on the days I just don’t feel like doing the Fingers-Keyboard dance. I’ve found that they work sort of like affirmations; the more I remind myself of these goals, the more I see myself moving towards completing them, and the happier I feel about being a few words closer to achieving a dream.
Our brains are crazy powerful if we let them off the leash.
So to all my fellow NaNo’ers: Beyond why you write, what are your goals for your writing? Do you do it just to keep the legions of brain-demons at a sword’s length, or are you striving for a taste of validation via large-scale publishing? Are you writing to get that mega-huge, sprawling idea into something more tangible, or just for the personal challenge of the whole thing?
Whatever your reasons, setting goals will help. Without a goal, you can never score.
“My goal is to be the first cat to complete a jigsaw puzzle. Or steal all of the pieces and hide them under the bed. Either way.”
Tagged: craft and draft, dewey decimal system, goals, literature, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo 2012, quest, vision, writing
Literature and Libation 
These are good questions. I write because I enjoy the challenge of putting experiences, memories, ideas, and people on the page. I like the idea of people learning something from what I write. I think of writing as my version of Dumbledore’s Pensieve. It’s also nice to feel “good” at something from time to time, as egotistical as that sounds.
For those reasons, my goals include:
– Being published in all of my Life List Publications (National Geographic, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Wired, Vanity Fair, and a few others)
– Finishing the program… hopefully by the end of 2014.
-Trying out teaching.
– Writing (and hopefully selling) a book.
Great goals! And I know that you can easily do each and every one. Maybe you and I can both teach at Hopkins some day 🙂
Reblogged this on Phillip McCollum and commented:
How’s this for an enigma wrapped in a paradox nestled within a black hole made of pure “What the Hell?” I’m reblogging an inspirational post from my friend Oliver, who apparently was inspired by my earlier reblog of my other friend Nate.
Brain melting aside, Oliver makes me want to set some goals. I’ve been avoiding them far too long. I’ll be spending some time over the next few weeks creating and narrowing them down. Thanks Oliver!
Thank you and you’re welcome, all in the same breath.
Goals? mmmm. scary 🙂 Finish diploma Media and Communications. Find more wonderful, well paying, enjoyable writing jobs 🙂
The prior: you can do it! The latter: I wish you the best of luck 🙂
Alright, I had to come down here and post before I finish reading your post I read this, “like a good machete of a loaf of stale french bread” and then realized my brain had imposed an F over the R. Important stuff those F’s and R’s, and some funny looking results too.
Okay, finished reading now. I have to make one argument, Borderlands 2 and other video games, I think, do tap into the creative side of our brain. However it is more sapping and less productive, I still thank the imagination still has to work in the same way that it would if it were writing, reading, or watching a movie. Sometimes it knocks something loose and inspires, but more often it saps us of time, energy, and creative juices.
Hahaha, I think your read of it is funnier than what I originally wrote.
I agree with you; video games definitely fuel the (or at least my) creative side. Hell, I wouldn’t have half my vocabulary or penchant for the fantastic without them. But, they also tend to be incredible time-sinks that keep us away from creative efforts that would directly improve our art.
That’s not going to stop me from playing entirely though, obviously
I have wanted to get back to creative writing for a while. This is why your blog caught my eye when I first started checking out the other blogs on wordpress.
Right now my writing goal is to keep up with the blog posting once a week. I hope to eventually get back to fiction, but right now the tech writing stuff is the only thing my brain seems capable of putting out.
Sigh.
Nothing wrong with tech writing; it’s how I pay the bills.
It is also a great way to keep a lot of your tools nice and polished; not many other writers get a chance to edit, format, rewrite, and advise other people on their writing on a daily basis. I see it as a positive way more than a negative 🙂
But thanks for stopping by! Good luck with getting back into the fiction!