Rough Draft Challenge Day 1!

 I'm participating in Sarra Cannon's Rough Draft Challenge. For all the details, check out this video: How to Join the Rough Draft Challenge

I love this challenge because it's the exact opposite of the old NaNoWriMo. For those of you who might somehow stumble across this blog and wonder what the hell I'm talking about, NaNoWriMo was short for National Novel Writing Month, which was a challenge that started about 20-25 years ago, I think. Not sure about the exact history, but what I do know is the organization is now defunct thanks to some pretty bad controversies that happened last year and a couple years before. If you want to go down that rabbit hole, here: The Tragic Downfall of NaNoWriMo Otherwise just know that it was bad, and while the spirit of NaNo as a challenge was cool and all, there was a lot of pressure involved that I never liked, namely the pressure to write 50,000 words in a month.

I don't do word counts. I suck at tracking. Therefore I always struggled with actively participating. I used to say I was participating "in spirit" most years. But even then I sucked at keeping up with it bc stuff always happened. Not to mention it's my birthday month AND Thanksgiving/Christmas season starts this month, so yeah. November is not the ideal month to even be "challenging" myself to write.

But I always loved the idea of it, which is why I tried anyway. And that's why I love the RDC. I still get to participate, not just in spirit, but however I want! Sarra makes it easy to customize your goal. Word counts are there if you want to shoot for them, but they're NOT a requirement. That's why I will always choose the Diamond tier when I participate!

So, what is my goal for this year's challenge? Simple. Just do something writing-related every day this month. Even if that's just thinking about it. Yes, I'm counting thinking about it. When it comes to this, thinking is also doing. Because I'm doing everything I possibly can to reconnect with my writing, I'm counting EVERYTHING associated with it. That includes letting scenes run thru my head whether I write them down or not. It includes opening up my writing notebook and flipping thru it. It includes listening to music. It includes reading The Artist's Way. It includes reading anything! It includes meeting with Jaime, morning pages, artist dates. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. Even watching YouTube, as long as it's a video related to writing in some way.

Some of you might think that counting everything, including just thinking, might be "cheating." But here's my thought process on that: This is not a test. This is not homework or anything academic. It is not a competition. It is simply me reconnecting with my writer self. It is me practicing letting my imagination do its thing without any judgment or negativity associated with it. To me, the "challenge" part of the Rough Draft Challenge is going to be challenging myself to let go of those past expectations that weighed me down. My writing does not have to be "publishable." It does not have to please anyone but myself. (Sorry Jaime, not even you! But I know you're okay with that.😉) Therefore, there's no such thing as "cheating" when it comes to this challenge or my writing, period.

Today, I accomplished my goal by writing this post, using my RDC planner, and attending some live writing sprints on YouTube. So, technically I'm done for the day! But I'm also thinking about possibly working on a scene after this. I have a few ideas rattling around in my head. One in particular came to me a few days ago and has been tickling my brain. I'm eventually going to go play with it.

No pressure, though! If I don't get around to it today, that's okay. I will get to it before the end of the month! Even if I don't, that's STILL okay! The point is I refuse to put pressure on myself to "actually write" ever again. I have learned that pressure is the enemy, and any thought along the lines of "I should be writing right now" or "this isn't writing, this is procrastinating" kills my creativity.

Here's an idea for myself or anyone who wants to try it: Make a list of phrases like the two I just said in the last paragraph. Anything negative about writing. Then burn the paper or rip it up afterwards. Why not? Something like that could be fun and cathartic.

I guess I'm done for now. Gonna go ahead and post this. Happy November, everyone! Happy birthday, Brian! Happy birthday on the 9th, JC! Happy birthday month to ME! 🥰😁