Goal Outline - Writing a Novel in 30 Days

So what is my next challenge? I will try to write a novel in 30 days. 50000 words is the goal of the National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) and I will try to participate.

If you know what the NaNoWriMo is you will probably notice that something must be wrong here because NaNoWriMo always takes place in November and now it’s almost December and this years event is nearly over. Well maybe you are new to my blog and haven’t read the ‚About this Blog‘ section, so I will state it again here, that I always post my blog-entries with a one month delay. This has several positive aspects. First of all it is easier to reach your goals if you don’t tell too many people. At least that is an idea that was stated in this TED video and I think this makes sense to me. The second and more practical reason is that with a one month delay I don’t put too much pressure on myself to write, edit and post my entries on a daily basis. I can scribble down some notes and write my blogposts comfortably on the weekend and have some space if something hinders me from blogging. This is really very helpful and I still get the result of a neat blog with regular updates.

So back to topic. If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, please check out the Website or Google it. There is a lot of info about it so I will not explain much. Basically the idea is to write a fictious piece of text with a length of 50000 words within the month of november. It is also a community experience but I must say that I’m not so much the kind of guy who is interested in the big community thing or the forums and stuff of the official NaNoWriMo but rather in the actual writing itself. I just registered because my challenge coincided with the official challenge so I thought I check it out and participate officially.

The idea for my novel is something I carry around with me for almost 10 years now. My viewpoint and the message that I would like to communicate has changed several times during all those years, but some basic concepts stayed with me. I have written a kind of storyboard for the main plot points long ago and also a detailed history of the events that take place before the actual story but as with so many so called writers I didn’t have the diligence to actually write the novel itself. I am also quite a perfectionist so I have always had my problems with finding character names or other small details and this slowed down any attempts to start at all.

Well, the concept of the NaNoWriMo is quantity and a rather punk rock approach. Just write and don’t think to much about details. Work with what you’ve got. You can edit later on. I like that idea because maybe this is the way to finally really write something. So wish me luck and I will give you daily updates how I master this new challenge.

by the way the pictures of this month will contain various book art I found on the internet and that appealed to me. Hope you like it.

Can't Stop

I should already be preparing my next challenge but just don't find the time or the right motivation to get it on its way. I have already chosen a subject and I can tell you that it will involve a lot of writing and also a lot of planning ahead. So far I couldn't get around doing much because of all the crochet work done in my last challenge. At the moment I'm really motivated to do more of that stuff. I can't even watch a movie without my fingers starting to tingle. I have completed the pieces of the challenge that I haven't got finished and also learned some basic knitting techniques. I would like to start knitting too, but so far I didn't decide on a piece I want to make. I have found an interesting instruction for a knitted tie but the instruction is in english and I have to translate the technical terms for the knitting stitches first. I already know them for crochet so I can read english instructions but knitting is new territory for me.

But nevertheless another thing the last challenge did for me is giving me so much practice on crocheting that now I really like to do it because it no longer is a pure learning experience which can be exhausting but rather it is fun to use the already learned skills on anything I want to create. This is so much more fulfilling than sitting passively in front of the TV. As you can see in the picture above I have started on a new piece, a pair of gloves for myself. Winter is coming up fast and I'm excited to make something that I can really use and wear. They also will have a special feature because there are little slits on every finger so you can push out your fingertips when needed and use them as fingerless gloves if you have to handle something like money or the bus-ticket. I think I will finish them within the next week and I'm very excited to wear my custom fitted gloves. It is just like making fire or hunting or growing your own food. To really do stuff that supply your often most primary needs is such a really satisfying feeling. I can only recommend this for anyone who wants to improve his/her life.

30 Days: Crochet - Aftermath

So the first challenge is completed and now I have to summarize what I gained from it. First of all the facts: I made 16 finished project pieces and 2 almost finished ones. The Plan was to make 19 different projects but the asparagus was just not possible to make with the instructions and my skill level at the time. Of course some individual projects like the olives consisted only of two very little pieces, while the almost finished burger had several quite different and larger pieces.

Of course if someone reads this blog who is really good at crochet he/she will probably think that I am pretty pathetic because of the overall achievement of this challenge. I don’t know any people around who are good at crochet so I have no measure if I do ok or suck completely.

But the crochet itself was only the means to an end, namely to find a way to get anything done of the millions of things I want to do in my life. My overall problem is that I’m interested in so many things but never find the time to do any of them. Multitasking is a bitch because actually the more things you do in parallel the less things you get finished at all. If you are like me and want to learn three languages, while directing a movie, writing a book, knitting a scarf and learn to play piano during a week where you also have to train for a triathlon and in between go to the office to actually earn some money, then you probably know the feeling that you try to multitask to manage everything but end up in a total stasis and at the end of the week all you have done is hung out in front of the computer and checked your numerous news-feeds.

If you read the „about this blog“ part you probably know already that finishing things or sometimes even starting on any projects is really tough for me. So one thing I learned during this month is that breaking a goal down into manageable pieces and setting a finish line of 30 days is a good way to focus on only one thing at a time. And as you can see it actually worked for me. I was able to get most of the things done that I wanted to make and so finally can enjoy the success instead of the stale feeling of continued failure. I think especially the finish line is an important feature for me. Breaking down a goal into manageable steps is one thing but without a finish line I would again get the feeling that I won’t have time to make all the other things that interest me and therefore drop into stasis again. But so I know I only have to focus for 30 days and then I’m free for the next project.

An important lecture for me was to stop multitasking! This helped me at work, too. If you work on one thing then work on that thing and nothing else. There will be enough time for other things once you have finished. Another thing for me was to stop being a perfectionist. It is ok to plan ahead the course for a challenge but if you are unable to stick to it or unable to finish every single step you still need to keep going and don’t give up. Better get some things done than none at all. I know this is not any knew knowledge and I start to sound like a fortune cookie but really experiencing that these things work is exciting and uplifting.

At least I won’t start on such things as „live in the moment“ because I don’t believe that this is working for anyone. Maybe it works if you have no fear of ever failing at anything but who actually is so enlightened that he can say this from him/herself. Planning is essential for any project but you have to find the right balance of planning and margin for error.

During the challenge I also experienced that sometimes I’m actually scared of completion. Everything is going well during the planning phase, the beginning and during most of the work but as soon as the end of a piece is in sight I get the urge to stop and pause, almost fearing to cross the finish line. To overcome this feeling several times during this month also helped me because it seems to overwhelm me less frequent. Maybe I’m starting to like the active productive life I always wanted to have but so far were unable to realize in many aspects.

Before someone gets a wrong idea I usually am quite able to manage a lot of things in everyday life and by the average standards of society I think I’m rather at the successful end of the scale but when it comes to  my personal projects and interests I tend to be very critical and these projects are the part about which I'm talking in this blog. So as a summarizing sentence I have to say that I’m very happy with the outcome of my first challenge. I managed to create stuff, to learn something about myself, found a way to tackle projects and also improved some aspects of my work-life. So now I will start to plan my next challenge.