Only one and a half week left of Preptober! Is everyone getting their prep done? Working on those character profiles, putting finishing touches on your outline, making yet another plot embryo to go along with the dozen you already have? Whatever you’re doing, I hope you’re making the most out of this month of pumpkin spiced preparation for the Month of All Months that’s right around the corner.
Personally, prepping is slowly picking up. I wrote semi-regularly this week and decided that my realistic goal for Preptober should really just be to finish Chapter 3 of Blade of Broken Bones before NaNoWriMo kicks in. This book has some long chapters, so that in itself is a challenge, but one I might actually fulfill.
I’ve also veeery slowly started preparing the NaNoWriMo part of my bullet journal. If you’re a fellow bullet journal user, you’ll know how helpful and therapeutic this tool is. Even for someone like me, a semi-consistent user (who sometimes forgets to fill in my daily tracker for almost two weeks), there are great things to be gained from it. The setup of my bullet journal doesn’t even follow the standard “outline”, I’ve perfected it entirely to fit the way my brain works. That’s the great thing about bullet journals; the only right way is the way that is right for you.
So yeah, bullet-journaling and general Octobery goodness is what my week has been about. Now that the weekend is here, I actually have to do some damn writing. The goal of today’s post? Make me want to do that writing. That’s right; I’m using you for my own personal gain. If you’re reading this, you are potentially helping me get into the groove. Any words I write today? You contributed to it just by reading this post that I’m writing purely for personal motivational purposes. So even if you didn’t write any of your own words, you were still actually productive today. You’re welcome.
Rachael Stephen posted a new video yesterday. It was kind of like a follow-up video to that one I’m always pimping out to anyone who will listen. The Write Your Damn Novel video? This is like that, but more. If you haven’t watched it, definitely go do that. It’s full of motivational things.
One of the things Rachael mentions in that video is the power of metaphors. I am definitely a believer in this power. Taking thoughts and turning them into images or events in my mind always helps me get a better grasp on things, it helps me see them more clearly and feel them more strongly. Hence the title of this blog post. Let me paint a word picture about one of the many ways I see NaNoWriMo in my head, how I see the journey to get there in my mind that helps push me to keep working.
I do Camp NaNoWriMo. I truly love Camp, especially because of all the images the very concept invokes. Not only do we have cabins, but the forums are full of wonderful camp-themed rooms like campfire circles, meadows, fields, rivers, brooks, cafés with different writing-related themes where writers can go to bond or get things of their chest. I love the imagery. So once camp is over, I like to take it with me. Stretch it a little further.
After Camp in July is over and I’ve said goodbye to my cabin mates, packed up all my writing tools and said a fond farewell to my favorite writing spots, I head into the forest. There’s a smooth path that I follow, just wandering and relaxing, enjoying the peaceful nature around me and sitting down in fields of flowers whenever I want a break. This pleasant walk is August and September. If I want to stop and write for a while, that’s great! But it’s also okay if I just want to smell the flowers, play with forest animals and sing to myself as I skip down the path.
After this long and lovely journey, the path grows more solid and I reach a fork in the road. The sign before me says both paths lead to NaNoWriMo, but I have two options; the Scenic Route, where I can continue to wander merrily without any hard work slowing me down. I can keep on this leisurely stroll and arrive at NaNoWriMo well rested and ready to start working with no new tools in my backpack. The other option is the Preptober Trail. This path is filled with treacherous challenges, obstacles and hidden traps. It’s difficult and maybe even a little dangerous, but it promises a rewarding adventure that will fill up my bag with tools and magical objects that will bring great reward once I arrive at my destination. This adventure seems both awfully tempting and intimidating after months of peaceful trekking through the woods.
Me? I take the intimidating yet adventurous Preptober Trail. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Scenic Route, but I enjoy the thrill of a challenge. And most importantly, I like the thought that in a few weeks I will come stumbling out of the woods, bruised and exhausted with scrapes on my skin and twigs in my hair and arrive at the beautiful and luxurious NaNoWriMo retreat. There I’ll get a nice bubble bath and maybe a back rub before settling down in my own private writer’s studio where I will pull out all the tools I gathered on my journey, and write like I’ve never written before.
Come December, I will put away my tool and let my brain quietly die and regenerate for a whole month. My brain will absorb all the lessons I learned on my journey through the forest and relish in the knowledge of everything I achieved in the end.
This is the journey I am currently on. It isn’t easy, but my thinking is that it will turn out to be worth it. Who’s going to take the journey with me?
Thank you very much for reading my ramblings. This totally helped and I am so ready to do the submission for my Wednesday critique meeting and then write as many words in Blade of Broken Bones as I possibly can before collapsing.
I wish you all a productive weekend and the best of luck in this new week of prepping. May the Powers of Creativity look upon you with kindness, and smile.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a novel to write.
Writing Up My Serotonin 