NaNo Coffeehouse Reads discussion

**Vows*
"Instead, I simply vowed to the universe that I would write forever, regardless of the result. I promised that I would try to be brave about it, and grateful, and as uncomplaining as I could possibly be."

What might your vow to writing be as you head into NaNo?

**Be your own patron**
Wouldn't it be lovely to have hours on end to write? Sure it would- but that's not the case for most of us. Most authors throughout time have held other jobs and written books an hour at a time.

Gilbert offers a clever mental shift here, rather than seeing our jobs and responsibilities as distractions or deterrents- how would it be to see our work as being our own patrons, supporting our creative endeavors and nurturing our creative selves?

What space can you find in your day for your writing?

"People don't do this kind of thing because they have all kinds of extra time and energy for it; they do this kind of thing because their creativity matters to them enough that they are willing to make all kinds of extra sacrifices for it."

**Done is better than good**
"...the mere completion is a rather honorable achievement in its own right. What's more, it's a rare one. Because the truth of the matter is, most people don't finish things! Look around you, the evidence is everywhere: People don't finish. They begin ambitious projects with the best intentions, but then they get stuck in the mire of insecurity and doubt and hairsplitting... and they stop.
So, if you can just complete something- merely complete it!- you're already miles ahead of the pack, right there."

Another great gift of NaNo is reaching the end- having this outrageous goal and completing it. If you let it, it will inspire you to write your story, it will hold you to account to show up to the page day after day, it will give you a chance to impress the heck out of yourself.

She talks about creating something- releasing it as good enough- and then starting something new. She calls it the anthem of her people, the Song of the Disciplined Half-Ass.

NaNo is a great chance to put all this into practice, to change those limiting beliefs so many of us carry, to dance to the Song of the Disciplined Half-Ass.

Let it fill you with determination. Let it light a fire under the doldrums of reality. Let it let you choose to do it even when it's hard, choose to let it be good enough, choose to fall madly in love with your creative self and get to The End.

What might you need to embrace or release to finish NaNo?

**Writing in the hard times**
In Empty Bucket (p.147) she quotes, Mark Manson, "Everything sucks, some of the time."

And I think this is important to keep in mind for NaNo, right? Sometimes the words flow freely, vomiting on the page as you frantically sprint along, brilliance stops you mid-sentence to ponder your creative genius and you can relish those moments. And other times, you pound at the keyboard forcing the words onto the page or toil over 3 frickin' words or hit the backspace key over and over all the while chastising yourself for taking words off your NaNo total.

How might your experience writing for the month be different if you can embrace this sentiment, "everything sucks, some of the time"?

**NaNo is like having an affair
Right? You fall head over heels with this elusive temptress, you steal away every moment you can to spend with your novel, you think about it every moment you are away even waking in the middle of the night hoping to play on the page for a few.

"Stop treating your creativity like it's a tired, old, unhappy marriage (a grind, a drag) and start regarding it with the fresh eyes of a passionate lover. Even if you have only fifteen minutes a day in a stairwell alone with your creativity, take it. Go hide in that stairwell and make out with your art!"

What might your November look like if you treated NaNo like having an affair? (I mean not in the 'i'd never do it because i'm an honorable person who takes my vows and commitments seriously- but rather in the playful, passionate, can't wait, thrilling aspects of it.)
💃 Along these same lines, have you ever thought about wooing your muse? Doing something special? Dressing up fancy like she talks about in the next piece?

**It's ok not to be Plato
"You must learn how to become a deeply disciplined half-ass. It starts by forgetting about perfect. We don't have time for perfect."

Now she is talking in the big picture, but this is so apropos to NaNo. It is one of the greatest gifts of doing this crazy challenge. We don't have time to ponder each word or toil over every scene. You have to learn to let it be "good enough" and keep moving forward.

"So many of us believe in perfection, which ruins everything else, because the perfect is not only the enemy of the good; it's also the enemy of the realistic, the possible and the fun." Rebecca Solnit

Have you struggled with perfectionism in the past? How does it feel to think, "It's ok to not be Plato?"