Camp NaNo is fully underway and I have always loved the challenge of writing with others. In fact it is one of the few ways I find the real drive to write. Others, making similar goals, writing furiously to the end of the month. There is just a certain excitement in all that. Something that sings to the part of us that likes a challenge, not to mention, not knowing exactly what you are going to have for a manuscript at the end of the month. It is a beautiful thing, so why then am I ever struggling this month to write? I have a storyline that has me excited! I even have all the time in the world to write. Maybe therein lies the problem. When I was too busy to write I found myself pulling out my tablet to write in the strangest of places. Knocking off a few hundred words here and there. So then is it I need pressure to write?
Here is where I come to my conclusion that writing is indeed a journey. While we are so busy crafting the lives and worlds of our novels, at the same time we are learning things about ourselves. Things that we would not otherwise look at. Things just like my lack of motivation to write and do some of my favorite things unless I really don’t have the time to do them. Almost as if I reserve them for when I really need them. It isn’t like they are going to go away, or become less fun! So, armed with this knowledge, I will have to get creative. Make my own busy schedule so that I can hammer out the words to this incredible story that is bouncing around in my mind.
How about you? How often do you find yourself stuck in your writing/hobbies? How often do you find that things are that much more fun when you don’t have the time for life, let alone something you enjoy?
Random Acts of Writing 
I think that is why something like Camp NANOWRIMO is important. It gives people the opportunity to write by gently forcing them to make decisions on how important writing is to their lives. It makes you make the decision to write and to put its importance in context for your life. It pushes you to make time for writing instead of watching another rerun of Scrubs.
I agree! It also makes you write faster, and not get so hung up on the perfection of the words you choose. Once you manage to get the story hammered out, then… you have everything. You can go back and revise a billion times, but trying to do that while writing leaves your story often fragmented. Not to mention you never get very far, and miss out on some of the great ideas you have when just plowing through!