A quill pen in his hand, the feathers spinning with each written letter. A pause. William Shakespeare gets his thoughts in order.
Loud click-clacks of the typewriter fill the silence in the room. Ray Bradbury writes the magnificent novel Fahrenheit 451 in 1953.
Virginia Woolf wrote her novels standing up, the poet Rumi dictated his poetry while meditating, and the boxer Rubin Carter wrote his autobiography while in prison.
It took Leo Tolstoy six years to write War and Peace and J.R.R. Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings in stages in between 1937 and 1949. No matter where a writer is, with any tools they find and in any manner, they manage to write their stories no matter how long it takes.
With that said, would you challenge yourself to write a book in 30 days?
The seemingly absurd task is the perfect push for aspiring writers.
It is four o’clock in the afternoon. Your coffee has gone cold. You are hunched over your laptop, hoping your novel would just write itself. Your characters dawdle around their fictional world, waiting for you to plot their next moves.
The seconds silently go by. Inspiration has come and gone.
The calendar reads November 1. All over the world, writers tackle their ultimate goal: writing a novel. Caffeine-induced authors face the daunting yet exciting task of writing 50,000 words in one month. The challenger is an adequately titled non-profit called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short).
The ambitious program launched in 1999 by Chris Baty, a freelance writer who wanted “to more fully take advantage of the miserable (November) weather.” Today, NaNoWriMo welcomes hundreds of thousands of writers who are determined to write their novels, screenplays, and any other written projects in 30 days, in any language. That is 1,667 words per day, met by hundreds of plotlines and many pumped typists.
Creative writing is an escape from reality. Our hectic lives replaced with adventurous swordfights, alien invasions, or romantic ordeals. Creative writing offers poets a place to purge their emotions and imaginative individuals to share their sensational stories.
With NaNoWriMo’s go-getting attitude and plentiful resources, writers from all over the world can sign up for a (free) account, announce their novel and get to writing. NaNoWriMo pushes writers’ one (stressful) step closer to writing a full-fledged novel.
Writing a novel is both a dream and a nightmare. The intimidating task overshadows the satisfying end-goal of finally being able to say, “I did it! I wrote a book!”
This is a wake-up call to all writers in Saudi Arabia, and around the world, to grasp November in the palm of their hands—to face their fears, write their books, and grow as creative beings.
If William Shakespeare could do it, you can. If Ray Bradbury did it, you can. If S.E. Hinton, George R.R. Martin, J.K. Rowling, Leo Tolstoy and James Joyce did it, you can too. One day, your name could be followed by, “I love her/his books/plays/films!”
Inspire yourself, push yourself and write that project. Join the nerve-wracking journey; be dedicated to your craft because one day, you will have your name on the cover of your published book.
- Written by Nora Al-Taha
