NaNoWriMo Using The Laity Method

This October I read How to Keep Writing with a Full-Time Job by K.A. Laity and decided that instead of another failed attempt at NaNoWriMo I’d do something different. Kate Laity writes. Not just fiction. She is an academic that writes and teaches students how to improve their own writing. In short she knows what she’s talking about.

For me the key piece of advice she gives is to write. Not just today. Write every single day. It doesn’t matter if you only write four words. What matters is that you have written something. Anything. So that’s what I did. It is December now. My NanoWriMo word count is 30 words. That isn’t exactly correct. I decided to completely ignore all numbers other than the number of days I had written. I succeeded in writing every single day for the entire month. Most of it is pure drivel. Some of it has given me ideas that I can work on and I have half of a short story down and I know where it is going.

It doesn’t sound much does it? For me though it is pretty darn good. I’m really happy about it. More importantly though it has been about creating new habits. It sounds simple because it is. Simple does not mean easy though. The discipline and dedication required to write anything of note. That is one of the main reasons I am so impressed by anybody that can output a significant number of coherent and entertaining words.

So all you lovely people that have produced something interesting for people to read, I salute you. Keep up the great work. For myself I’ll keep noodling around and hopefully improve in both quality and quantity.

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