The Legendary Novel Writing Challenge!

Whew!  I somehow managed to survive Camp NaNoWriMo for July 2013.  It took a lot of burning the midnight oil and frantic cramp-inducing typing on my part these last few days, but I made it!  (Day 28 I spent all day, from 8:00am until 11:30pm writing.  I got 8,876 words done in a single day!  20 pages!  Heilige scheisse!)  Just goes to show that the habits of college haven’t worn off yet; I still put everything off until the last minute.

This Camp NaNo was really stressful and I was way behind my word count for about 2 weeks.  Trying to catch up once I feel behind was probably the biggest stressor, and even though NaNoWriMo always stresses that you get major kudos for trying, I still don’t like falling short of a goal I set for myself.  My writing group can attest to my depression and complaining throughout the month.

However, a good thing did come from all the stress.  Well, two good things, actually.

First:  I pushed myself harder than I have ever done before and still managed to reach my 50,000 goal, which leaves me that much closer to finishing my Dark Crystal submission.

Second:  All my complaints encouraged my onii-san David to create LeNoWriCha, the Legendary Novel Writing Challenge!  Please take a moment to read his note on the subject.

I sincerely believe that adopting this kind of system for writing will help encourage productivity.  Having a way to encourage and reward yourself for effort on a daily basis, and in a way that recognizes your hard work without worrying about an arbitrary goal is very important for writers.  And the nice thing is that LeNoWriCha is highly customization in terms of rewards for streaks or monthly goal achievements.  For example, my reward for completing this month on Heroic is that I can buy the first five books in the manga series Black Jack by Osamu Tezuka.  Since I would reward myself each day by watching an episode of the 2004 anime Black Jack, I think the reward fits the accomplishment.  *happy dance*

I do hope that other writers will benefit from LeNoWriCha and will spread it to others who may find it useful.  Write on!