camp nanowrimo: discipline & other dreams
My first work was one about a spy quartet that lived on a playground. It was a pre-Kindergarten comic, drawn when I was left-handed & done on folded paper I had ripped out from a notebook. The self-insert was obvious, prone to brilliance, but I think any given character is brilliant when they're a spy fighting against pirates on a park playground.
Although I have always been fond of my dreamscapes, eventually it came to the point where I borrowed characters from these same dreams and developed them into a fictional environment where I could understand the dynamics between one another. An initial run-through of these characters ended in a small set of novella-length works, written in middle school and stapled together in a display of accomplishments. Later on I'd expand on that universe from the other side, what I had once seen as the villain's side, and now I understand their world through gray & gray morality that is complex and viewable from so many levels -- through bureaucracy, through magic, through sexuality, through biopolitics. And I'm still so proud of that series, even if I've been constantly rewriting it since 2010.
Has it been exhausting, trying to write since the election? Yes. Absolutely, and I've confirmed this with so many friends I know in real life. That's why I've been trying to read and watch, trying to feel inspired by visual content that stirs me emotionally.
I'm looking for a catalyst. Something that'll return the rush of writing back to me. But I know I'll have to be reaching out for it, too.
Methods for writing are endless. Methods for self-discipline are more nuanced, factoring in academia work, employment, social obligations, energy, illness--but they, too, are endless.
Some are prone to typing. Others believe in pen & paper, whether it's scribbled onto napkins or done with the cursive from a fountain pen. Personally I'm a mixture of typing & writing in pen, and for me it's very dependent on the scene; I've written moments in my notebook that I couldn't unravel on the computer screen, and for other emotion-intensive scenes, typing is the best way to get the words out as soon as possible.
I use NaNoWriMo as a method of discipline. I've been participating in National Novel Writing Month since 2010, and boy! That's seven years now. I remember when Camp NaNoWriMo first came out after all these questions of wanting to capture the communal energy of November's event to other moments in the year. Summer writing for Camp NaNo has always been great, and although it's a bit harder to balance these community-oriented events during the academic year, it's taught me a lot about balancing my life.
There's a lot of things that can happen during NaNoWriMo. You could start hanging out with all these friends who for some reason want to hang out only while you're trying to write fifty thousand words that month, and when you mention it the event they're all shocked that people would dedicate themselves to an absolute hardship like this.
But it's a lot of fun! There's times when I'd forget about the tea I made, or moments when we make inside jokes with a friendly writing group, and the overall bonding that comes watching your word count grow and grow everyday. So many ask, "well, what if you cheat?" And that's right, it's very easy to cheat. The question is, why would you? This is about you nurturing your personal growth. I can understand pretending that you wrote 2k to get to that end result of 50k, but honestly, you probably did write that extra 2k at one point, but never attributed to your word count. I record my dreams every morning when I wake up, and I only count those when necessary--and honestly, dream records add up! It makes it cohesive, sure, but that's my loss in the end, since those could have been words devoted to a fictional novel. But at least with dream journals I still get to look at the patterns of dreaming over time, watching what stressors push forward at what times.
Your main issues of self-discipline depend on your mindset. This is true for many people, but not everyone. Growing up, we wait for bursts of inspiration, since those moments are exciting and are often initial catalysts for new content. The issue is we come to expect those inspirational bursts to return, and we end up basing our entire creativity on these moments that are rarer and rarer as time goes on. Yeah, sure, I'll get motivated by the beauty of Lin-Manuel Miranda's work in Hamilton, but it's up to me to get this novella on the LA blogger lifestyle done. At some point you have to look at yourself and demand that you finish this work whether you feel inspirational at all.
Remember, you can edit! You have the ability to edit, but right now you have to get those words done. For me, that's the reason why I try to avoid writing out of order: I end up drawn to scenes that are more emotionally resonant, but these are the same scenes that help motivate me to get through the smaller, less emotionally resonant scenes. And yes, it's true that I have to edit those duller scenes to make them more captivating, but that's a revision issue, not a first draft writing issue.
Another issue of writing-related discipline is time management, and taking the steps to fix this also lets you acknowledge where in your life you spend too much time with leisure. In my case, I spend too much time on Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram, so this has to be curbed a bit more during NaNo months. Sometimes you also realize what your best environment is for writing--during the daytime, during nighttime, with lyrical music, with instrumentals, etc. These are all personal situations that could be applied beyond writing, and that's what's so helpful about it.
Make sure that you keep an eye on your health too! Take the medication you need, get enough rest--at the end of the day, a goal is just a goal. What matters is that you get the first words down. Eat as well as you can, stay hydrated, and learn to prioritize your health.
Writing is writing, but your body will be thankful if you listen to it.
Keep thriving.
Yours Sincerely,
Dianne
Keep thriving.
Yours Sincerely,
Dianne
