(Reprinted here from http://independentauthors.blogspot.com )
The difficulty of completing a 50,000 word novel, from scratch, in thirty days can scarcely be imagined until one steps foot upon the path of most resistance. Forging a trail barehanded through dense, thorny brush might be easier. The statistics bear this out every year. Of the tens of thousands who begin NaNoWriMo each year, only 15% - 20% ever finish.
Yet and still, every year authors worldwide embark on this perilous journey of self-discovery, at risk of estrangement from the entire outside world… Meaning, the world outside their own heads. They do it, in part, because everyone loves a challenge. Everyone loves an underdog. Everyone loves to be a part of something larger than themselves.
I have a 55-hour work week at my day job, a working wife and a two year old child. My path is strewn with obstacles, and it winds through late nights, fatigue-induced hazes, sometimes delirium. And at every turn I have been greeted by the 800 lb gorilla: self doubt.
A task of this magnitude will force realizations upon you. Chief among mine: there is nothing else I would rather be doing than climbing this literary Everest. Prose beckons me like a long-lost lover and my characters inspire me daily. Even though I am 7,000 words behind the prescribed pace, I am absolutely committed to finishing. And as for this challenging road ahead, I channel Henley:
OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
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