Facebook weaves in and out of my life, depending on my mood and schedule. I sometimes go weeks without opening the program on my computer, posting small comments, updates or pictures by telephone. I may use Facebook to see if there is anything going on in town, especially on the weekends. My initial reason for opening a Facebook account was to promote my blog writings; I find, though, that previewing my feed almost always uncovers a thread that I feel I must comment on, and often those comments trigger a larger thesis. This was the case when I read this post from the Nanowrimo blog during the April 2014 Camp Nano:
What if one becomes fairly certain that he or she just is not a good writer half way through NaNoWriMo... should he or she finish anyway?Naturally, this frustrated Camper writing to a group of passionately committed wordsmiths, received much supportive advice: Keep going; Don’t stop before you get to the hard stuff; and my favorite, do it because you love it! For myself, this wavering esteem is all too familiar, and so I write this to both the original status poster and to that part of myself that is forever procrastinating and denying my true nature. I suffer from the malady of moderation. Then I would suggest that he or she should not concern themselves on the specific technique or outcome of their writing but rather on the passion with which it was written. I would suggest that one’s proclivity towards putting words on a page is more important than the order that the words were placed. Although my writing was encouraged and praised in college and Graduate School, and I have been writing consistently before, during and since then, the success I seek for my writings has not yet come to pass. Still, I continue to write. Some of my prose might end up on a blog and perhaps even read by a small group of curious Twitter followers or Facebook ‘'friends”. Do I ever think that I am wasting my time, and life would be so much easier if I didn’t put this much pressure on myself or open my self so vulnerably to criticism from those who may read it? Every day. Can I stop writing? Never. It is what I do. I may not yet be noticed, I may not yet know the formula for a fiction novel, and my non-fiction may digress occasionally; but I keep writing. When you have completed your Nanowrimo Word Count Goal, note how you feel. Proud? Accomplished? Ready for the next step? Do you feel like there are things you need to finish or change? Plot holes so big you can drive a truck through them? Not only is writing a passion, and an art, writers are both teachers and learners. The community of support that one finds with Nanowrimo will spill into your life. I had no idea how big the writing network was until I started Nanowrimo in 2010. From there, I found support and opportunities right in my own backyard, and my writing circle began to expand from my virtual world into my reality. It has colored and infused it with creativity, support, and when you need or ask for it, critique.
Don’t ever stop doing what you love. “Good” is subjective.
