Continual Content Stream & NaNoWriMo

So I have been doing NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month. And the goal is to write approximately 2,000 words a day each day of November and by the end you will have a 50,000 word novel (90 pages or so). It is mostly a way to force people to get their first novel out of the way. Its like how they say the first song is always the hardest song to write. People are often so terrified of making a mistake that they prolong finishing the simple task that is their dream. People are daunted by the task of forcing every single bit of their ideology into their first creating that they limit themselves. They don't want to produce any content that isn't perfect. They don't want to disfigure their image. What most people don't realize is that by not producing any content at all, they are disfiguring their image and even worse, they are not acting upon their core dreams and desires.

So as I have been doing this NaNoWriMo, I have had a hard time actually sticking to a story line. My book is about an island in the pacific that has two opposing tribes. The story takes place during a pre-colonial time period. One tribe is based on reason, logic and human understanding. The other tribe is based on spirit, subconscious and submission to the unknown. A boy struggles finding which tribe to embrace, and in the end is exiled from both tribes. The island is attacked by outside colonizers, and the boy must unite the two differing ideologies to fight against the new threat and in the process learns that a balance of the two forces of Logic & Spirit is the answer. I have got the main plot points down, but I have learned something greater from NaNoWriMo than just how to write a novel. I have learned to use my post-work hours for something meaningful.

In the past after I got off work I would have a few beers, consume the internet, maybe watch a movie or play a video game. Occasionally I would read a book or go out and hang out with friends. But I was rarely producing any content. I was just taking inputs. NaNoWriMo has taught me to produce content. To instead do something that gets my ideas and my spirit into a lasting tangible medium.

For the record I am counting this blog post as my words for NaNoWriMo, because in my mind I hope that the book I end up writing is a memoir or something of sorts. Which happens more often than not among first year NaNoWriMo's. And it isn't a bad thing.

The benefit is that I am actually producing instead of just consuming.

Each night this week I have set for myself a simple goal. To preface, I have been struck with a new motivation of life in general, especially in terms of business and entrepreneurship. First I researched the http://www.cs1893.com/ website. It is for Church & State which is a business incubator in downtown Salt Lake. I sent them an email and they responded. So each day this week I have been following this path. One night I created my LinkedIn profile. And tonight I made this website and first blog post. I hope that in the future posting a blog will be a meaningful activity for me when I have run out of other activities to pursue. But I learning this all from NaNoWriMo.

Now I am only going to blog candidly and I don't really care. I honestly don't really see many people reading through all of these. I normally write similarly in my own files on my computer, but why not just put it all out there? I have lots of theories that I eventually hope to get down on here. They are almost exhausting to explain because I have explained them so many times to my friends. On of my friends criticized me as being a cosmic mysticist. One who talks of light and truth and oneness but doesn't really come to any real conclusions. I don't know what I am. I am just a man trying to be more than a man.

I think I'll just touch up this post with a few remarks. First on journal writing. This is a good thing. When I was mormon, writing in my journal was such a pleasure and it isn't just for posterity or some shit. It is a process for the writer to review his day and thoughts and analyze what went well and why, and what went wrong and why. Then with some effort the writer can make a plan on how to exploit what what he/she did well and to avoid what he/she did wrong and make necessary changes. It is this review that is the basis of human logic and truth. We take inputs, we analyze them and then make future estimates and plans. We do experiments every day in our behavior and interactions with others. We see what worked and what didn't. We see what to repeat and what to avoid. 

I contend that truth is relative for each human being. There is no universal truth. It depends on the circumstances of each individual, and what works for one in his/her surroundings may not work for another. It is therefore important that one reviews his/her own life. The individual must brood upon the past and see why they are the way they. Then use this information....Sorry my train of thought is lost. I know this is turning into just kind of stream of consciousness type sorta thing and I suggest you stop reading because it will only get less intelligible from here. But I don't like to write to an audience. I like to just write what I am feeling. And in that way I am providing an accurate record of my feelings as well as working through my own problems and not hiding them. Remind me to tell you about Isaac Asimov. I think my mind can be recreated in the future by the sum of all my outputs. 

Well this blog has been sufficiently derailed. I think I will continue my rantings on a google doc or something so I can at least track my word count and then go to bed. I accomplished my goal today which was to create a website for myself and to register the domain name johnhgrimshaw.com. which wasn't taken already hallelujah. I'm not sure what tomorrow's goal is. Usually by this point I have already found one. But tomorrow is friday so I will probably just drive home, work some in the office and then party with my roommates. Saturday I wanted to go to church and state but the guy said no one will really be there :( I will probably try anyways. I still need to connect with my mission president from when I was a mormon missionary. Maybe I will do that now even though I am kinda drunk.