I Survived! I Survived!

I survived NaNoWriMo!

It was a struggle, hitting that 50K mark. Others finished with insane word counts - I saw several over 100K. And then, of course, there were plenty who fought valiantly though weren't quite able to reach 50,000.

I did have my doubts throughout the month. Somewhere towards the end of Week 2, I really began to dislike my story. The characters seemed weak, the writing dull. The plot was going nowhere. I was losing faith.

Thankfully, I was able to (mostly) write my way out of the hole, reading over some of what I'd written to regain some confidence. I suffered and prevailed, and I now have a lovely, long, nearly-complete novel to edit. I won't try to work my way through the entire text this month, as some will be doing, but I'll work on it when possible. I'm currently loaded down with tests and applications - and edits to my sister's college apps.
So for right now, I'll be writing and considering ideas, but mostly taking a mini vacation. But before I go, I'd like to share with you the biggest lesson I received from NaNoWriMo: that a writer can't wait for inspiration. There is no such thing as "writer's block" - a completely inability to create new material, often cited as the cause of prolonged, creatively-dry periods.

If you're a writer, you've got to write, to push past tiredness and distraction. You can't wait for the right words. It's true that writers sometimes need breaks. I'm living proof; my break begins as soon as I finish this post. But for much of last year, during the first several months of the 2011-2012 school year, I wasn't producing anything. Not only did I not participate in NaNoWriMo 2011, but I barely wrote a word for weeks. It was the first time such a thing had occurred since I recognized my love for writing towards the end of the fifth grade.

Now, I'm determined to never let it happen again. Whatever career path I eventually choose to undertake, I want to continue writing. I don't care if I ever profit from my work; I write, first and foremost, for myself. Writing is a crucial piece of my identity; it causes me, challenges me, to view the world differently.

As a writer, it's my duty to constantly observe and reflect on the nature of the human condition. The role comes to me naturally; recording my observations, creatively transformed, only follows naturally. Thus, I've come to believe, not writing is denying a part of myself - the creative, expressive piece. Whether through blog post, poem, short story, novel, the medium of expression makes no difference.