NaNoWriMo will change your life

It's time to share your mantras Grinders, post them in the comments below. "There is room for one more!"

NaNoWriMo is 29 hours away, most of you are fretting about outlines, character biographies, scheduling writing time, and just trying to psych yourself up for the adventure ahead, I know I am!. You already know it won't be easy, in fact it is damned hard, but I am going to tell you how NaNoWriMo will change your life.

Last year when I sat down last year to write my NaNo I was boasting a strong record of 0 wins and 3 losses, good start right? I didn't know what the answer was, and I had every idea how to write a novel, but no clue how to finish one. One year I sat down halfway through the first week and started writing, about a scene in my head and 15K words later it died. Another year I wrote down six different plot ideas on slips of paper and drew them out of a hat, funny right? What's funny is I drew the first one, didn't like it, and kept drawing until I ended up starting three of the novels and gave up on all of them. Another year I wrote 30K, feeling good, and then my apartment was broken into and I had my computer, laptop, flash drive and back up hard drive stolen. I gave up that project and started to hand write an autobiography, (I felt very introspective after losing years and years of writing, dozens and dozens of short stories, poems, novellas etc. I never got them back...), that failed around the 20K mark.So how did all of this change my life?

In 2013 I sat down to try again at NaNo, I wrote and wrote, and kept on writing. I hit 50K in 14 days, and nearly hit 100K in the full 30 days. I couldn't tell you what changed, and what was different, other than I kept writing, I never let myself give up. That was the key piece for me, I didn't give up, I kept at it. The lessons I learned from digging in and holding my own against the challenge taught me something I am only now starting to realize. I can do what I set my mind to. Not in that public service announcement kind of way, or in the your parents will tell you anything to get you out of the house kinda way. I learned it for myself by doing. I WROTE A DAMN NOVEL! It wasn't great, it wasn't awful, it was simply mine, it was something I made and only I could have done.

Like many things I only learned how to do it after it was done. Not what you wanted to hear? Just hang with me for a minute. I learned that we all already know how to write a novel. What? I heard that sound of disbelief. You heard me right, you all know how. The same determination you used to learn to play an instrument, play a sport, raise a child, care for a parent, lose weight, fix up your house, finish school, heck even getting out of bed and so forth. None of those were easy, you thought about quitting and doing something else. You may have walked away, but came back. But you did it, and now that you are on this side of having learned whatever lesson that was, you know how to do it, but you didn't then, just like writing a novel.

Use that determination to help drive your writing each word in NaNo, because all of those things I listed aren't accomplished in a day, or even weeks, it takes trial and error, try and try again, and going when the going gets tough. It takes grit, courage, spirit, and some moxie. And if you think about all of the tough things you have accomplished, you will realize suddenly a novel isn't so hard.

I'm going to let you in on a secret, once that novel is done (and I know it will be, this year is your year), you will feel a sense of accomplishment and empowerment you never imagined possible. And it will stay with you long after that novel is done, believe me.

Last year I sat down on November 1st to write a novel, and I thought it would be hard, but it would be fun. And in the end I learned more from writing that novel than just building characters, developing a world, or making something fun, I learned I can do what I set my mind to.

It may sound silly, but because of that novel I gained the confidence in myself to do a lot of other things I never thought possible. I changed some habits, made new routines, and set bigger goals. I have been much more successful at my job, published stories, and even lost 80 pounds this year. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that writing a novel will help you lose weight, but it will help you accomplish the things most important to you. If you can write a novel, you can do anything.  

Time to get your grind on.