Done is better than perfect.
what
A NaNoWriMo-themed challenge designed to have me write a book before I start drilling teeth without supervision.
By some miracle, I find myself with a bit more time this month than I thought I would have. Clinic is wrapping up and graduation is steadily approaching, though still more than a month away. Somehow I had zero plans this weekend, so instead of derping around doing nothing, I decided to set myself up to complete a NaNoWriMo-scale challenge in May and June (and reserve July for editing). The purpose of this post is to set my intentions for the challenge and create an outline for how I will be updating my progress on the blog.
Why only be accountable to yourself, when you can be accountable to the entire Internet. I am making myself post publicly every Sunday with a word count update and a reflection on how the writing process is going.
I am going to document my entire writing process from the brainstorming phases all the way to completion and eventual publication (self or otherwise).
why
Dentistry scares me and I maybe need a plan B.
Well, I have to be honest: I don’t know if dentistry is right for me. I touched on this a bit in my last post, but as graduation draws closer, I’m terrified. The world circumstances over the last two years have jeopardized an already shaky foundation in terms of clinical experience gained under supervision, so I’m anxious about being unleashed on the unsuspecting public. (Would you be okay if you knew that your dentist had only done 4 root canals prior to starting yours?) As if the imposter syndrome weren’t stifling enough already. I’m also going to be slower at completing procedures, and given that my job will be fee-for-service, I only get paid more if I do more procedures.
So I’m basically taking this opportunity to explore my passion for writing and also maybe generate a secondary income stream. (Hey, just being real here. There are lots of loans to pay off, so of course that’s a key motivator.)
If this dentistry thing doesn’t work out for me, then I’m in trouble. Nothing like fear to light a fire under one’s ass.
term
May 8th — June 19th.
As of the writing of this post, May 8th is tomorrow and June 19th is a few days shy of my graduation. I really have no excuse not to be able to meet my daily word count goals given this time frame.
NaNoWriMo is typically carried out in a single month, but I have more time at my disposal and I’m hoping that just over 1000 words per day will be a more realistic goal for me.
word count
51,213 words total, or 1191 words per day.
Doing the math (dividing 50,000 words over 42 days) gave me 1190.4 words per day, so I rounded up to 1191. This will give me 51,213 words by the end of the term (just over the conventional NaNoWriMo word count goal).
road map
may 15th
9,528
may 22nd
17,865
may 29th
26,202
june 5th
34,539
june 12th
42,876
june 19th
51,213
what happened to accountability check-ins? will this be different?
I feel like I also need to address the elephant in the room: my previous accountability series (the Accountability Check-ins). What will be different this time? Why won’t I end up abandoning it like the last one?
More imminent timeline and more realistic goals.
Close to zero progress has been made since my last accountability check-in. I had a pretty good excuse: I was writing my dental boards, or as I like to call them, the-exams-to-end-all-exams. Now that I know that I’ve passed and I have a little bit more time on my hands again, I want to give this writing thing a really fair shot.
I’m hoping that by setting attainable deadlines that aren’t too far in the future, I will get a more tangible sense of accomplishment. In order to make real progress, I need to put all of my energy into one project. I know that this will be very challenging for me because I have lots of ideas and I like to bounce around from one thing to another. But I’ve realized over the last few months that I need to actually finish something. Some people can derive motivation within the journey itself, but I need to feel that sense of accomplishment in order to get that drive going.
I also think that the word count goal is more achievable. Last week, I cranked out a 1100 word essay in a little under 3 hours, so surely I can generate a similar word count daily, especially in a more creative context.
***
Historically I’ve been very hard on myself when I don’t finish things. Dental school really has taken over my life these last 4 years, and the 5 years before that were spent hyperfocused on getting me into professional school. I’m trying to be kinder to myself, but as revered motivational speaker Shia LaBeouf so succinctly put it, I’m not going to let my dreams be dreams; I’m going to just do it.
I’ll post my first update next week and talk a little bit about the project I’ll be working on. Talk to you soon!
Take massive imperfect action.
As always, feel free to discuss in the comments below or reach out via the contact form. I’d love to hear from you!
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