Why No words, No Wine™ you ask... You did ask, didn't you?
Several years ago I attempted to win my first National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo encourages all writers and would-be writers to set down 50,000 words in the month of November. Yep, that is FIFTY THOUSAND WORDS IN THIRTY DAYS!
Needless to say, I failed miserably my first time out. Sure there were prizes but a NaNoWriMo winner badge wasn't enough incentive to keep me going for 30 whole days! The next year I tried again with no luck.
One early fall afternoon while sitting on the patio enjoying a nice Pinot Grigio with my husband (when I should have been sitting at my desk writing, of course) I realized there was only one answer to my dilemma. That answer was wine... or more specifically, the lack of wine. From that day forward, at least during November, I would forgo my wine until I reached my minimum target of 1,667 words per day, seven days a week.
Guess what? It worked. I won! Not only did I get my winner's badge and the first draft of a novel, I got something even better. The satisfaction of knowing I could accomplish such a major goal in such a short time. As an added bonus, another prize being offered that year was a printed copy of my book by Create Space .
For NaNoWriMo 2012 and 2013, I posted my word count and my agony here everyday along with a grading system of zero, one, two or three glasses of wine, hoping the public shame would be enough to get me through another month of 50,000 words. it worked!!! I won!!
Life has gotten in my way again for 2019, but I plan to hold my own personal NaNoWriMo in January to finish revising my current manuscript. I'll post a new WriMo journal to aid in 'guilting' me into writing and, of course I plan to drink a lot of wine in the process.
See you in January!
Several years ago I attempted to win my first National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo encourages all writers and would-be writers to set down 50,000 words in the month of November. Yep, that is FIFTY THOUSAND WORDS IN THIRTY DAYS!
Needless to say, I failed miserably my first time out. Sure there were prizes but a NaNoWriMo winner badge wasn't enough incentive to keep me going for 30 whole days! The next year I tried again with no luck.
One early fall afternoon while sitting on the patio enjoying a nice Pinot Grigio with my husband (when I should have been sitting at my desk writing, of course) I realized there was only one answer to my dilemma. That answer was wine... or more specifically, the lack of wine. From that day forward, at least during November, I would forgo my wine until I reached my minimum target of 1,667 words per day, seven days a week.
Guess what? It worked. I won! Not only did I get my winner's badge and the first draft of a novel, I got something even better. The satisfaction of knowing I could accomplish such a major goal in such a short time. As an added bonus, another prize being offered that year was a printed copy of my book by Create Space .
For NaNoWriMo 2012 and 2013, I posted my word count and my agony here everyday along with a grading system of zero, one, two or three glasses of wine, hoping the public shame would be enough to get me through another month of 50,000 words. it worked!!! I won!!
Life has gotten in my way again for 2019, but I plan to hold my own personal NaNoWriMo in January to finish revising my current manuscript. I'll post a new WriMo journal to aid in 'guilting' me into writing and, of course I plan to drink a lot of wine in the process.
See you in January!
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2011 WINNER |
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photo courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net
