Actually, I do think deadlines help me. Having to turn stories in for class workshops certainly put the pressure on and made me work harder. I helped by making myself do original work for almost every workshop that I had in the program. (I know this works kind of in reverse though. If you've just drafted a story it's not going to be your best effort, is it? O Well!) This year, I've been revising, revising, revising. That has taken some learning on my part too, but I'm off the subject.

Each November is what we call National Novel Writing Month. I participated last year and it was lots of fun. The idea is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I made it to something like 51,000 last year even with a trip to Vegas thrown in around Thanksgiving. I've decided that whatever happens in my writing career, I'm always going to participate - that deadline makes all the difference. Most of the people I know who participate spend the rest of the year revising what they wrote in November. There are also events associated with Nanowrimo, as they call it. Write ins where people meet to write for a few hours (seems like Panera Bread is always a favorite) and parties and blogs of course.

If you're interested in joining us this year it's free (accepts donations) and you can sign-up at www.nanowrimo.org. M

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marystojak