Nanowrimo Vs. Internet

This month will probably have a lot of Nano themed posts. This one is the big reason I'm having to marathon to keep up my word count. It is the arch nemesis and greatest ally of writers and students alike, with traps to ensnare you like Facebook and Twitter and Wikipedia, yet those can be great resources of community and story ideas.

At the moment, when productivity is crucial for word count, the internet is proving to be the biggest distraction ever (I say this as I'm writing a blog post about this very subject! I feel like I'm in a Christmas Carol). Email, Facebook, Twitter, even school's website are constantly updating with assignments, comments, news. After about an hour or so of checking, it kind of feels like you're plugged into the Matrix and should be declaring you know kung-fu in a matter of minutes. And the worst (and probably best) part of it is the internet is always new! You never run out of something to see or things to do. There's so much out there that you can always find new things to do like read online serials, or webcomics. There's a point where you're just putting off the inevitable and you've already wasted precious words you could have added toward that coveted 50,000.

So, for anyone participating (or delaying anything by goofing around online), and who has this issue, I challenge you to join me and spend at least an hour a day with your wireless connection turned off, your ethernet cord unplugged, and your word processor/notebook open to catch up on any lost words and get ahead for the weeks to come!

Back in time for Candy

And the epic trend of the hiatus continues during the semester... I'm hoping to post more often in November because of Nanowrimo (the awesomeness that is National Novel Writing Month). I'm going to win this year... Granted I'm going to use the extra motivation to finish a project rather than start a new one. And day one is today! Maybe they'll have the special widgets this year that say how many words you've written so far. I'll have to figure out how to post that on the side of the blog.

Happy belated Halloween/Samhain by the way all you Pagans, Americans, and fellow Celtic Mythology nuts. There were a lot of fun activities I did leading up to the weekend, not limited to pumpkin carving (Hello Kitty!), watching an awesome pro-wrestling event with my family (one of the matches involved my boyfriend), and dressing up in 5 inch heels all of yesterday with an old Hot Topic dress and a ton of makeup (and I had class all day, I brought flats in my bag just in case). You can check out pictures below if you're interested.

Happy Me!

Pretty Dress

Heels of doom!

Meanwhile, Nanowrimo! This is an awesome thing to participate in because not only does it promote productivity (50,000 words in a month is daunting, but doable!), it also promotes community among prospective writers, seasoned writers, and readers (go to a local write-in and you'll see plenty of both). While writers of all kinds should be perfecting their craft all year round and have their own support system of fellows, it's sometimes nice to hear the stories and watch as ordinary people realize that writing a book, especially a good book, is hard. You see the high and mighty with their noses in the air humbled and you see those with their shoulders slumped in doubt uplifted!

For anyone who actually has completed a first draft all the way through (I'm not even going to touch the subject of editing), the feeling of "The End" is one of the best in the world. You haven't read over it yet, you just revel in the completeness of your work and the excitement that you've made the best thing since sliced bread!

In December I'll probably rant more about editing and those pitfalls/perils, but for now, working for that finish and feeling the rush of the muse/creativity/forced awesome is one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever felt. That I'm feeling that with every first draft of something I tackle helps reaffirm my conviction this is what I want to do. And that is why I Nano (the not so clever verb for participating in Nanowrimo).

Why do you Nano? (Cheesy I know...) If you're not participating, how was your Halloween? Even if you are participating, I'd love to hear your thoughts on both!