Daily Quote for Feb. 6, 2010

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.”

Buddha

I think this is a most excellent quote, full of truth. Each new day brings new opportunity. All we have is now, and we should make the most of it.

As part of my effort to live a more mindful life, I've been trying to focus on the "now" by paying attention to the moment. It's not always easy, for my mind likes to wander all over the place. I'll be washing the dishes when I start thinking about what kind of shift I might have at work, or I will be working on a writing piece and my brain will meander over to the concert I attended last week.

Of course, I can't know what might happen at work, and what happened last week is of little consequence to what's going on now. Worrying about the future is a gamble at best, and beating yourself up over the past is a useless exercise. You have to be here now.

In short, yesterday is gone. It's a new day. Embrace the moment in which you are living right now, and make the most of it. You'll be happy you did.

Writing and momentum (or lack thereof)

Fellow blogger (and really smart guy) Wade Kwon made the point in a recent blog post that "perfection kills". Essentially what he said was that if you try to make everything perfect (especially in the blogging biz) that you'll never get anywhere.

But what hit home with me was this quote: "Although I’m not a fan of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, the event has at least one great takeaway lesson: Your momentum matters... Those who finish their 50,000-word novels in 30 days are rewarded with two things: a mass of sloppy, unedited writing, and the use of momentum to accomplish a once seemingly impossible accomplishment."

In my writing, momentum is -- simply put -- huge. Way huge. Godzilla-like ginormous, even. Once I get going, I don't want to stop. It's a great feeling to get thousands and thousands of words out of my head and into the computer.

But once I stop, getting back on track is damned nigh to impossible.

I'm in the middle of such a period right now. On November 30, when I hit my 50,000-word goal for NaNoWriMo, I decided I needed to take a little sabbatical. A week, at most, I thought. It would give me time to get some ideas flowing for other projects, and besides, I deserved it. I knocked out those 50,000 words in twenty days -- I was due some rest and relaxation.

But before I knew it, one week had melted into two, and the situation threatened to keep stretching until the holidays were over -- and I am certain that by then I could find one or two more reasons to keep from getting to the keyboard. I hadn't written a thing since December 1, not a blog post, work on Committed, or anything else of substance other than the occasional Tweet or facebook status update.

But thanks to the nagging voices in my head, I'm back at it -- even if the first steps are nothing more than some hand-scribbled notes in a spiral notebook and a blog post about how important momentum is to me. It's a start. And like the wise man said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

I can guarantee two things: Those steps won't be perfect. But one will follow another until I get someplace. It might not be my initial destination, but I will journey far and wide before it's all said and done.

NaNoWriMo Update: Day 11 - Regaining momentum

Daily Stats

Day 11 Word Quota: 2,500
Days 11 Words Written: 3,171 (!)
Cumulative Word Count: 12,337

Letting it flow

Wednesday was an inspired day. I'm not quite sure why, but I'm happy about it. In that most rare of happenstances, the words simply flowed, without threats of violence to myself, coercion, or deals made with the devil at the crossroads.

To quote Ice Cube, "I didn't even have to use my A.K.; I got to say it was a good day."

And so it was. Even though it took me a while to get rolling on Snakebit, once I finally did get going I found it difficult to stop. I wrote right up until the time I had to get ready for my shift at work (getting close to the 1,900-word mark by then), and once I got home afterward, I sat back down at the computer with the goal of knocking out the last 600 words for the day. I ended up doubling that amount, and I was even able to get into bed at a decent hour.

Of course, yersterday's output is of dubious quality, as is a lot of what I've done so far. I'm not worried about it for now. Editing is for December (or possibly even January; I'm thinking I want to let the story cool for a month before I start working on the submission-ready manuscript). November and NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, and I'm gaining momentum. Watching my word count climb is a thrill; if I keep going like I have for the past few days, I'm beginning to think that I will easily surpass the 50,000-word goal by the end of the month. Heck, I might even try for 75,000. Why not?

I'll be working hard to keep my momentum going, writing as much as possible and making it fun while I do it. Who knows -- I might even try one of the NaNoWriMo "dares". I'm particularly intrigued by one that suggests sending an important message to one of my characters in a bowl of alphabet soup. Sure, it's a crazy idea, but I think that's one of the things I like the most about this entire NaNoWriMo adventure and the story I'm writing. For now, the best question I can ask myself regarding my story is not "why?", but rather "why not?"

I'll be asking that a lot in the days to come.