For the first time since 2014, I committed myself to NaNoWriMo and the challenge of writing 50,000 over the course of a month (1,667 per day). At the start of the month I put forward my writing plan, so let’s take a look and see how the results matched up.
Plan 1: 3 x blog posts = 5,000 words
Some people might consider this cheating, as my posting schedule is already currently set for three blog posts per month (on the 10/20/30th of each month), but it felt to me like an important part of the challenge was to keep motivated and make sure the rhythm was maintained.
Thankfully (with this post included), I have managed to finish that part of the plan. Not including this post that you are reading right now, there were two posts published here on the Future Conscience blog:
SpaceX and the Global Military-Industrial Complex (approx. 2,000 words)
Which explored how SpaceX is a key player in the global military-industrial complex and complicit in the devastation that might result from its facilitation of future warfare.
20 Futurist Predictions for 2030 (approx. 3,800 words)
Going back to the bread and butter of futurist forecasting with some predictions, including 10 trends that we are currently seeing emerge that will likely continue; and another 10 that are a bit more speculative and bigger picture.
If we include this post of approx. 1,000 words, as well as about 3,000 words of additional drafting of concept ideas, then we get to a healthy result and Plan 1 can be considered finished.
Result: 9,800 words
Plan 2: 1 x chapter for new book = 7,500 words
The next part of my plan was to forge ahead with a non-fiction project that collects together a lot of papers that I have written over the past decade on topics of esoteric mysticism, specifically on 21st Century Rosicrucianism.
Around 80% of this project is already completed, but there are still two chapters left to write along with some introductory text and closing thoughts. The plan, then, was to write one chapter specifically which is going to focus on how the Rosicrucian tradition might approach the concept of social engagement in today’s world.
I did make substantial headway on this chapter (4,500 words) but also found myself coming up with ideas that were more suited to the final chapter that is needed, which is about the role of spiritual retreat (in the sense of intensive spiritual practice away from the mundane world) in maintaining a strong connection with the guiding light that shines on the mystical path. I was able to put down approx. 1,500 words for the draft of this chapter.
When I found myself a bit lost in the complexity of these topics, I also started writing the introduction and closing thoughts; which combined allowed me to put down another 2,500 words towards my NaNoWriMo total.
Finally, related to this project but not actually to be included within the book itself is something that I am writing up on the four archangels and their relation to the cardinal points (working title: Before Me, Raphael…). This was originally going to be a shorter blog post (to be released today on the 30th November), but has grown to become a more substantial piece and I have therefore rescheduled it for the 10th December. So far, I have put down nearly 8,000 words on this piece; although the final version will likely be substantially shorter than that once it is properly edited down.
For those of you still keeping tabs (a special hello to both of you!), you can see that I was able to put down substantially more in the non-fiction part of my plan than I originally intended to.
Result: 16,500 words
Plan 3: Novel Writing = 35,000 words
So here’s where it all went pear-shaped. NaNoWriMo is all about novel writing… so much so that they named the whole thing after such! However, I found the fiction part of my plan by far the hardest to be enthused by and, likely because I had so many different options in front of me, it was the one that kept being de-prioritised. Almost to the point of being non-existent.
If I’m being completely honest, I also found the fiction writing to be the more difficult of the projects. More often faced with writer’s block or apathy, it was always easier to find my flow in the other commentary or non-fiction projects.
I did manage to almost finish one chapter of the novel, which is approx. 3,600 words long – but that’s it. So for this part of the plan, I managed to only hit about 10% of what I had originally intended to do. Life and the writing muses took me elsewhere, it seems.
Result: 3,600 words
Conclusion
In addition to the three planned streams above, I also found myself putting down a few more book ideas and started to flesh those out in summary form. In the end, I found that I have another four book projects now in the earliest concept stages. This really solidified the fact that it seems non-fiction is my wheelhouse for the foreseeable future!
By now you’ve figured out that I didn’t successfully complete NaNoWriMo 2020 – but with a total of around 38,000 words done in a month when all these different streams are combined, I certainly consider it a success in the grand scheme of things!
One thing I have discovered about myself is that I am much more energised by non-fiction writing and it’s also where my talents really lie. This doesn’t mean that I will be abandoning the fiction project (which would be my second novel, following When Winter Calls which I self-published in 2015), but it does make it more likely that I won’t be racing ahead with ideas for more. Instead, I am putting my efforts into where my strengths are and am pleased to have found a new momentum in those areas through this whole process.
…and on a final note of good news. I successfully pitched my non-fiction book on 21st Century Rosicrucianism to a publisher and it is now going ahead through official channels! (Aaaahhh!)
Even though I may have failed the challenge of writing 50,000 words in a single month, the results have been incredible and I’m looking forward to building upon them.
Thank you to the few who made it through to the end of this post, your support and interest is truly appreciated (honestly, you’re awesome). I hope that we can all find ways to create and inspire one another for many years to come.
Watch this space…
(or on Twitter, which if I included all my incessant tweeting I might have made the full tally!)
