The main thing I wanted to acquire from
NaNoWriMo 2008 was a habit. Sadly, it didn't take.
The hardest thing for me to do as a writer is to force myself to set aside time to write. Because I don't have a regular schedule in my life, I can't, say, decide to always write from 6 PM to 8 PM, though I would dearly love to do so. I have to write as the time becomes available, and too often, it just doesn't happen. I need to find ways to
make it happen.
I need to have the same relationship to writing that smokers have to nicotine or, dare I say it, addicts have to heroin. I need to reach the point where I cannot
avoid writing, where it is a craving I must fulfill. And I am more than a little worried that I'm talking about needing to develop this attribute, because I've read in the past that this characteristic is a defining one for writers. If writing doesn't naturally compel me like a drug, should I even be writing? Can I succeed as a writer?
Well, it seems to me that every addiction is an acquired one. I just need to work a little harder on making the writing addiction stick. That will be the goal for the rest of January: to write every day. Not necessarily 1,667 words, as for NaNoWriMo, but something. Then, at the end of January, I'll see whether the process will continue of its own accord.
This is a fundamental test of my ability to become a true author. In February, I'll pass judgment on myself.