So, as I announced recently, I’m diving into NaNoWriMo.org this year and to get ready for this I’ve start looking up how I need to prepare for writing a book, let alone one in 30 days. And I have to say, that even though it’s only Mid Aug and I am not to write A word before Nov 1st I’ve already started to learn quite about this process. Ironically enough, the process is *gasp* to write a book!

Say, isn’t this something I’ve always said I wanted to do and never got around to it? Is it possible that this NaNoWriMo thing is exactly what I needed? Is this just one more example of something I waited too long to do? I think many of us reach a point in our life and ask “What if?” questions. What if someone would have noticed that I like to tell stories? What if a teacher would have encouraged me to pay attention in English and keep writing? What if I would have decided to try this NaNoWriMo thing when I first heard about it 3 years earlier?

I think fear of the unknown and failure are the two things that hold us back the most. We ask if something is possible or real. Only recently have I truly started to grasp the concept that someone has to win the lottery. The biggest problem I see, time and time again, is that people compare themselves and others to everyone else. I know a guy who was a great director and put all his passion into a low budget movie. Sure, not everyone can be the next Tim Burton or Martin Scorsese and I know I probably can’t, but just because myself and everyone else I know would probably never make it as a Hollywood director doesn’t mean he couldn’t. Now, if I were better than he for any reason the question now is about drive and that’s what makes the difference.

I heard a story once, from Tony Robbins about Harland Sanders who supposedly had 1,009 rejections when he tried to sell his fired chicken recipe at age 65. It makes me wonder; If you’re meant to do something, is it ever too late? Or does destiny keep waiting around for you to finally get a clue? Cearly that drive is what makes the difference. Could anyone have sold a chicken recipe and had a $2 million dollar franchise in 9 years? Well, neither would Sanders, had he not had the drive to keep trying.

You can chicken and egg the whole thing (no pun intended). Did Sanders succeed because he had a great recipe or did he succeed because he had great determination? Maybe it was both, but it’s clear he believed in it. That, above all, is probably a more important factor to the equation. The debate still rages if great writers are born or made. Stephen King tells about how he had a stack of rejection letters nailed to his wall in his youth. In his book “On Writing” he said he resubmitted a story that was rejected to the same people who originally rejected it only to have them love it… of course by then he was a well known author but the point was that your story might not be a bad story, it’s just wasn’t supposed to be released yet.

So back to my own writings, and the story I intend to tell. I have two plots now, both somewhat personal. There’s also the life story I still intend to tell one day, when I’m brave enough to let the skeletons of my family out of the closet to total strangers. But it’s the lessons I’ve learned along the way that I hope others learn from. And while NaNoWriMo is more for fun it’s a good exercise.

And if this post is anything of a clue I don’t think I’ll have an issue coming up with 50,000 words in 30 days.