Making use of a 30-day challenge in my own way as a part of my personal life story.
For the fifth time, I have completed NaNoWriMo.
For the uninitiated – National Novel Writer’s Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNo) takes place every November. Over the 30 days of the month, you are challenged to write 50,000 words.
To many people, this is a daunting challenge. Let’s face it, that’s a lot of words.
My previous NaNo accomplishments have tended towards unusual genres, like my humorous memoir of getting hit by a car while a pedestrian 20 years ago called The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Trip to the Post Office, or my homage to Paulo Coelho and taking a fantasy trip to Sedona in Vortex Pilgrimage.
For me, now that I am writing every day, I took NaNo as a challenge to see if I could reach 50,000 words in 30 days.
Truth be told, as I finished on the 26th, I did it in 22 days. How’s that? Because I never wrote on any Saturday during the month, so I need to subtract those 4 days from the 26.
Ergo, I wrote 50,170 words in 22 days, which comes out to 2280 words a day. That’s not bad at all.
What my NaNo was made of
I created a file where I placed everything I wrote over the course of the month. All of my articles, every word written into my sci-fi epic, Void Incursion, and the notes for my now-weekly podcasts.
The challenge also got me to do more writing overall. Hence, a lot of work went into Void Incursion. I am eagerly awaiting the return of Book I – Opening Gambit from my editor, so I can get it done and published.
It was great to see that I really am putting in the work to write full-time. I am proud of again completing the challenge, and looking forward to more opportunities to write, publish, and share all of the work I am doing as part of my life story.
With the new marketing focus I am working on, there is going to be a great deal of writing going forward. I have a lot of different irons in different fires. But taking this month to really see how much writing I am doing felt quite validating.
No, I know I need not validate my existence to anyone, save myself…but it feels good to do it.
Conscious reality creation and my life story
Over the past 9 months, I have been writing full-time. There have been a lot of articles that I have put out there. This has been a labor of love as I am striving to create the life story I most desire to lead and earn money doing that which I love to do.
The first time I participated in NaNoWriMo, it was a total failure, and I got very little done. But then I wrote something new and different, which I decided to even self-publish after editing. Over the years I have participated in NaNoWriMo with a success rate greater than my failure and incompletion rate.
I have known for a long time now that the written word is my passion. You are probably tired of reading about this. But pursuing your passion is important.
You only get one go around this planet. You have only one life to live. It is entirely up to you to decide if that is going to be a life lived exploring and experiencing or slogging through and simply existing. The difference is a matter of approach, attitude, and mindset.
Mindset is the product of mindfulness. Your thoughts, feelings, and actions are your awareness of all that you are. Further, that puts you in the now, which is the most real reality there is.
The point here is that life is what you make of it. An opportunity taken, whether you succeed or fail, is better than an opportunity missed.
When I tried to complete NaNoWriMo but didn’t, I didn’t see it as a failure. There were multiple reasons why it came apart and didn’t work when it did. These became learning experiences.
When it DID work the results felt really good.
Good feelings are more powerful than bad.
What is your life story going to be?
I have one go at experiencing my life in this time, this place, this body, and the environments I place myself in. It is up to me if this is going to be a ho-hum experience or an adventure.
When I am practicing doing the best that I can for myself and being the most me that I can be, I gain so much. Taking NaNoWriMo and using it to encourage myself to work on my craft further expands and improves it.
I learn from the work I do. Everything I write, every audiobook I record, each podcast is a learning experience. This is my work and my life story and it thrills me.
Sure, there are days it infuriates, exhausts, and frustrates me. But for the most part, this is amazing, and I am really grateful that I have the opportunities that I do.
You get to decide for yourself what your life story will be. The only one who can tell the story of your life is you. That makes you the creator, the writer, publisher, editor, artist, and genius behind yourself.
You are worthy and deserving of having a story that lights you up and excites you. If you are telling it that way, keep going. If not, it’s never too late to alter it. Your mindfulness will allow you to take a new path if the one you are on is not to your liking.
Thank you
Thank you for taking part in my ongoing journey. I appreciate you for joining me, and for inspiring me and my arts.
Please take a moment to explore the rest of the website, which I am working to evolve and change for the better…much like I am doing for myself. Also, visit Awareness for Everyone to check out my bi-weekly podcasts.
This is the thirty-sixth entry of my personal writing blog. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published writing, which can be found here.
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