Ever since I was four years old it has been my lifetime ambition to write a novel. However, unfortunately I have continually fallen into the pattern many writers fall into of starting a novel then losing interest, coming up with a better idea, or getting too busy halfway through, and leaving the novel unfinished.
Initially, one of my goals for this list was simply to write a novel. However, as I had many ongoing goals already for the list (such as watching the top 50 films and reading several books) I quickly realised that I would probably fall into the same trap of never finishing my novel if I spread it out over the year. So, to give me a bit more motivation to write, I decided to enter the National Novel Writing Month competition (nanowrimo) that takes place every November – something I have thought about doing for a while.
So, this November, at midnight on 31st October/1st November, I set off on my writing adventure! After much deliberation, I decided to write a young adult novel, although I had absolutely no idea what it would be about even as I started writing. I put together a very vague idea about 5 minutes before I started (and when I say very vague, I mean very) and hoped the rest would come along as I wrote. Which it sort of did (although I had to go back once I had reached the end of the novel and fill in some gaps to improve the novel and add to the word count).
Then, on 24th November, I reached the 50,000 word word count and became a nanowrimo winner and the author of my very first complete novel!! 🙂
Not only that, but I decided my completion of this goal meant that I could tick off another goal on my list. After reading about National Novel Writing Month, I noticed that it was often referred to as a competition. Also, those who complete the month with a 50,000 word novel are referred to on the site as ‘winners’. Therefore, I concluded I could quite legitimately count this as me winning a competition (after all, it required a lot more time, effort and hard work than the lucky draws I had so far been trying and failing to win!). Here is a screenshot of my National Novel Writing Month page, declaring me a winner 🙂
Wonderfully, on the same day I completed my novel, I also managed to finally finish War and Peace, three months after I began! While some parts of the novel were a difficult read and there were times I longed for it to end, all in all I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to give it a go. I thought the characters were complex and interesting and I enjoyed the plot. And I also enjoyed being able to casually read War and Peace in public, as though I read those sort of novels all the time … 🙂
Now on to the rest of the books I’m reading for my list, starting with Tristram Shandy!
Here is an update of the goals I have completed so far:
1. Start a blog
2. Learn how to play chess
3. Have a bath with candles and champagne
4. Have a 12 hour DVD-athon
5. See the sunriseÂ
6. Create my own ice cream flavour
7. Run a 5K in less than 30 minutes
8. Knit something
9. Take part in National Novel Writing Month
10. Win a competition
11. Read War and Peace
12. Cook a Christmas dinner
13. Go to an ice bar
14. Learn how to make candles
15. Reach my target weight
16. See the Northern Lights
17. Go to the Opera
18. See a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre
19. Do a night-time sponsored walk for charity
20. Read the top 10 of the Guardian’s 100 greatest novels of all time
21. Raise £130 for charity
22. Go on a long bike ride
23. Create my own perfume
24. Visit another city by myself
25. Have a moonlit picnic
26. Do a parachute jump
27. Sponsor a child in a developing country
28. Watch 50 of the top films of all time
29. Read the Bible all the way through
30. Plan some extremely amazing 30th birthday celebrations
30 things to do before I turn 30 