“The bold adventurer succeeds the best.” – Ovid

adventure |adˈven ch ər; əd-|

noun ~ an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity : her recent adventures in Italy.• daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm : she traveled the world in search of adventure | a sense of adventure.• archaic a commercial speculation.

verb [ intrans. ] dated ~ engage in hazardous and exciting activity, esp. the exploration of unknown territory : they had adventured into the forest.• [ trans. ] dated put (something, esp. money or one’s life) at risk : he adventured $3,000 in the purchase of land.

ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French aventure (noun), aventurer (verb),

based on Latin adventurus ‘about to happen,’ from advenire ‘arrive.’

There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it’s like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.
Ernest Hemingway

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.”

NaNoWriMo is one week away.

1. Are you ready? Are you nervous? Are you cool, calm and collected? Are you filled with trepidation? Are you waiting with anticipation? If you answered yes to any of these questions, that is normal. If you answered yes to all of these questions, that is also normal.

2. Are you writing something completely new? Are you trying out a new genre? Are you changing from plotting to pantsing? Are you changing from pantsing to plotting?

NaNoWriMo is about ADVENTURE. It is about a jump off a mountain top, not quite knowing what might lie at the bottom. It is about learning to fly when you have always been told humans should not fly. NaNoWriMo is about being unsure, uncertain, bold, adventurous. NaNoWriMo should be seen as an adventure not a chore or a task.

Mundane events fill our lives enough that we should not make NaNoWriMo just another chore. How do you feel about boring chores like getting the ironing done or (my secret horror) grocery shopping? These are all things that are done regularly and are therefore normal. Have you jumped out of a plane? Have you explored in a jungle? Have you sailed around the world on a yacht? These are events that are EXTRAORDINARY. These are events that fall in the category of ADVENTURE. So instead of wondering where you are going to find the time in your day for a whole 30 days to write a minimum of 1667 words…wonder instead what will happen if you don’t make the time. Life can be normal and mundane or life can be what we choose it to be.

You might never jump out of a plane with a parachute. You might never explore in a jungle. You might never sail around the world in a yacht.

BUT

If you make time in your day, every day for the 30 days of November, to write 1667 words – you might just write a book. Now surely that was on the ADVENTURE list of your Bucket List? I am sure writing a book does not come under the mundane. If it is not mundane then it cannot be a chore.

This is a reminder for those first time NaNo writers that it is better to seek after adventure and fail then to not. Make this your challenge. Make NaNoWriMo your adventure in 2010. Attempt something new, risky and unchartered.

If you are an experienced NaNo writer, you may have many past NaNo successes or you may have tried and failed to write the minimum due to a common case of life-interruptus or even the infallible procrastinitis. Either way, don’t let NaNoWriM0 2010 be just another NaNoWriMo. Make it the ADVENTURE of 2010. Make this NaNoWriMo different. Pretend it is your first. Look at it with fresh eyes.

Sometimes when traveling, you don’t always have to travel to new places. you just go down different roads and make new adventures. One way to make NaNoWriMo a New ADVENTURE is to write in a style you are not used to write in or write in a different genre. There are a hundred different ways that you could make the 2010 NaNoWriMo novel different from anything else you have written. NaNoWriMo is all about sailing in unchartered waters. You might surprise yourself what island paradises you come across in your adventure.

So how are you going to make NaNoWriMo the ADVENTURE of your 2010? For myself I am trying my hand at a new genre. I plan on Making time every day in November to write at least 1667 words. I want to explore new places. I want to be able to hold a finished book in my hands at the end of it…a book not destined for file 13 but a book destined for publication. That is going to be my adventure for 2010.

One week left to pack the supplies in your writing backpacks. One week left to check your compass is holding to True Creative North. One week left to check you have adequate food and drink ready for your adventure. One week left to get your shots against procrastinitis and that pesky life-interruptus. Are you ready yet?

Enjoy this last week.

Anticipate November 2010.

Bring on the Adventure of NaNoWriMo.

© All rights reserved Kim Koning.

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