Ah, November. Month of mustachios and unshaved beards. Also NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. 

I’ve never attempted to write a novel, because focus is not my strong suit – and having to pen down 1,667 words per day on a singular topic sounds intimidating. And while I’m still not ready to go at it (perhaps next year? Lol), I’ve decided to challenge myself in 2018 with a 30-Day-Writing-Challenge : so I still get the writing in, minus the commitment of a full-fledged novel.

As a writer by profession, I often come back from work mentally exhausted and out of creative juice. Even so, I try to find time to blog, even on days when I don’t feel like it. It’s a passion project of almost a decade, and I’m not about to give up on it despite the challenges (mostly finding free time, since I juggle two jobs and like 1,000 job roles within my jobs, lmao).

I think it’s important for writers to have a writing space of their own, where they are free to pen down whatever they want to. For me, at least, it’s essential to keep my creative sanity intact. As I get on in years, I feel the creativity and passion dying within me – most days at work, I’m doing it because it’s a job, rather than because I’m genuinely interested in it, which, for a writer, is an extremely sad place to be. When you’re so used to writing things or topics in a certain way, your creativity dies and you’re left churning out formulaic, soulless copy.

A long explanation of why I’m trying to do the 30 Day Challenge this month lol. Hopefully, it’ll inspire and get the spark going again.

For the brave souls out there attempting the NaNoWriMo, good luck and happy writing!