I’ve always loved writing. During 7th and 8th grade, I was 100% convinced that I would be the editor of the formerly popular music magazine, Vibe. My writing dream partially stemmed from my obsession with the movie Brown Sugar. I wanted to be like one of the main characters, Sid Shaw (Sanaa Lathan). In the movie, Sid is the editor of another music magazine, XXL, and writes a novel about hip-hop. Her whole career path sounded perfect to me. She was also in love with her best friend, a music executive that ends up calling her the perfect verse over a tight beat (swoon), but I digress.

While my best friend spent the summer at the rec center flirting with boys at the basketball courts, I focused on writing fanfiction (you’re allowed a brief period of laughter), original stories, and creating accompanying graphics on Paint Shop Pro. It was during that summer that I decided that I wanted to write a book.

Last October I created a vision board and one of the items on that board was to write my novel. I’ve been staring at my board for 372 days working to manifest the ideas that I choose. The truth is I have less words in my Word document than the number of days I’ve been staring at it. However, I have a renewed energy and I found something to keep me accountable on completing a draft: NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo: NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH

NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write 50,000 words from November 1 until the deadline at 11:59 p.m. on November 30.  NaNoWriMo encourages people who have always wanted to write their own book to actually write their own book. National Novel Writing Month is in it’s 18th year. The organization wants new or seasoned writers to set aside their “what ifs” and procrastination to strive toward a deadline – just what I need.

I’m taking my inspiration from Ace who has published a book and a children’s story published as a coloring book. She’s a rockstar! This means I’m writing 1,667 words a day and I’m going to check this off my list. I don’t have any expectations. I’m not working on this novel with the thought of becoming the next Veronica Roth or ending up on the New York Times Bestseller’s list. I just want to say that I’ve accomplished a life goal.

Do you have a vision board or life goals you are working toward? Leave a comment below!