It Begins

Ladies and gentlemen, November is officially here, and with it, the beginning of NaNoWriMo. Yes, I am writing, and yes, I intend to complete a 50,000 word manuscript this month.

Because of that (and other things, like going out of town and stuff), I’m not going to write a long missive of encouragement this year. But I will say this:

You. Can. Do. It.

It’s not about winning, but about proving to yourself that you have what it takes to work hard toward a specific goal and accomplish that goal to your own satisfaction. The end product or result will not be the same for everyone, but everyone will get results that matter to them. And that’s really the whole point.

Never underestimate your ability to accomplish something important.

*waves pompoms and cheers*

Now get off the internet and get to work!

Cheerleading

A friend of mine once called me a cheerleader for writers. At the time, I wasn’t sure it was a compliment, but in the years since, I realize that friend was probably right. I have a tendency to want to encourage others, cheer them on, make them remember why they should keep trying when they’d rather quit.

I wish I could tell you why, other than it’s just the kind of person I am.

Everyone needs a little encouragement once in a while, and we all want to succeed at something, so of course we’re going to try. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we work harder than we’ve ever worked and lose. But sometimes we succeed, and those are the times that keep us moving forward, keep us working hard. This is why we try.

But it takes faith.

And patience.

And every so often, encouragement from a cheerleader who believes in your ability to be the person you are.

I’m willing to be that cheerleader for you. For all of you. So if you’re lacking faith in yourself, I will have faith in you. If you’re lacking the patience to keep moving forward, not knowing when or if you’ll ever succeed, I’ll loan you some of mine. And if you need someone to shake pom-poms in your face and scream and cheer while doing cartwheels, I’ll do that too. (Well, maybe not the cartwheel part—I’m getting a little old for that.)

In the meantime, here is a little something to remind you what it means to be strong. (By the way, this is the true story of my cousin Jodi—who is also a cheerleader, apparently. I guess it runs in our family or something.)

Now you have no excuses left. Get to work!