It’s been a few years since I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), in fact going back to 2014 when I was finishing up the draft of my first novel When Winter Calls and preparing it for self-publication.
I’m now privileged to have the time to focus more on writing and so there’s no escaping it — NaNoWriMo 2020 must be completed in full!
The last time I participated I had a clear goal: finish the novel. This time, however, my projects are more varied and so I’m going to map out a brief summary plan of what I hope to achieve by the end of November. This might not be that interesting to most of you, but by putting it here it will hopefully help motivate and hold me to account!
With 50,000 words to achieve over the course of the month, this is the plan…
Blog Posts: 10/20/30th of the month = 5,000+ words
Future Conscience was founded in 2009 and over the years I have found different rhythms of posting, usually one substantial piece per month. For 2020, however, I made the commitment to raise that and have now settled on three posts per month to hit the above calendar dates. This helps keep me focused on new content and also means that I’m more responsive to things going on. Sure, sometimes it also means that I put up a few lists…here and there…that are (somewhat) easier to write — but honestly, you know that we all enjoy them!
I have started polling Twitter followers for the topics of new posts, so will keep that going on the three posts to be put up in November. Follow @FutureCon and you can cast your vote there when the tweets go out.
Non-Fiction Writing: 21st Century Rosicrucianism = 7,500 words
Regular visitors will know that I’ve recently made a conscious effort to integrate the different parts of my life into a more unified whole, helped somewhat by no longer needing to divide my professional and personal self. A large part of this has been sharing more of my spiritual writings, which have been a part of this blog since the very beginning but previously existed more to be discovered by other fellow seekers.
Through my involvement in a number of different esoteric traditions, I’ve been able to put together a collection of papers that build up a vision of how we can approach Rosicrucianism (with its component parts of Hermeticism, alchemy, theurgy, Qabalah and esoteric Christianity) as a living tradition relevant to the world today.
There’s almost enough material now, written over the past decade, to put together a book and so I’m keen to continue for NaNoWriMo with the next chapter under the working title of ‘Rosicrucian Engagement in the World Today’. This builds directly from my two recent pieces published this year on ‘21st Century Rosicrucianism’ and ‘The Practical Paths of Rosicrucianism’ which you can read now if you’re interested in hearing more.
Novel Writing: Cult of America = 35,000+ words
It wouldn’t be National Novel Writing Month without some actual novel writing… so I’m committed to getting started with an idea that has been percolating for a while now.
Cult of America will be a collection of connected short stories that explores the link between 20th-century religious cults, brainwashing techniques, government mind control programmes, propaganda and corporate control.
Mixing fact, speculation and fiction in order to explore some difficult (yet fascinating) ideas, this collection of stories will get me back into the fiction writing mode while also allowing me to bring in a lot of my background in anthropology and religious studies. I’ll be delving into darker areas of government conspiracy, propaganda and technology as a form of oppressive control, so am looking forward to researching and writing this one.
The project won’t be completed this month, of course, but I’ll keep you updated on some of the themes (and perhaps a story or two from the collection) as it develops!
Taking part this year?
Part of the experience of NaNoWriMo is the sense of community fostered and supporting other writers as we all forge ahead with our many different projects. I’m always open and keen to hear about other people’s work — I love supporting and uplifting creativity in all its forms — so if you are taking part in NaNoWriMo this year, let us know on Twitter (please do @ me with your project updates!) and we can enjoy the shared experience with as many people as possible.
Looking forward to sharing updates, thoughts, difficulties and inspirations along the way as we work together towards achieving our writing goals for NaNoWriMo 2020.
Header image courtesy of NaNoWriMo, 2020
