It is day two of NaNoWriMo and I’m already 1,667 words behind. I will not apologize. I’ve had an especially productive month. I sent out a re-re-re-re-revised draft of my manuscript to agents and have already gotten one request for a full. (NYC agents- I hope you and yours escaped the worst of Hurricane Sandy.)
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that for the last few weeks I’ve also been deep in grant writing mode. Yesterday I got my AROHO application official postmarked and sent! I’ve had wonderful support from friends. A special thanks to Women’s Studies/Sociologist professor, friend and fellow student of the world, Kim Simmons whose tweets kept me going! The best part was this wonderful email from the AROHO group:
Anna,You’ve made the commitment. To yourself, to your work, to the world. This is the beginning. Thank you for cultivating your creative vision and sharing it with us. We are honored. Your proposal is one step closer to being shared with the world. A world that is waiting.Yours,AROHO
Now I know that everyone gets this email, but there was something about this idea… making a commitment to myself and my work. It’s a commitment whose real beginning was about a decade ago. Let me tell you, it is a hard commitment to keep. It often comes with guilt and self-doubt. Yesterday, when I handed over that envelope, I was more sure than ever that the commitment I made was the right one.
So with that commitment firmly in place, I embark on the next project. This month I’ll be posting things that inspire and inform me. Today– two blog posts on organizing your daily writing to meet your goals.
Creative Chaos 
Yay! Good for you. Do not apologize for not meeting the NaNo goal. Just keep moving forward. I ended up changing my NaNoWriMo goal to a “write 1 hour every night” goal rather than focusing on a word count goal (because I know I am completely capable of writing a crappy 50k novel that doesn’t make any sense and I really hate revising). And congrats for mailing out that grant! It didn’t look easy.
I’m with you on the word count but I’d like to get into a better production habit. I found the Rachel Aaron piece very helpful. I’ll be charting my progress this month as she suggests to try to understand my work habits. I already know that my worst habit is checking my email over and over. Hugs!