Camp NaNoWriMo 2020, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Writing

Hey peeps.
With all of this time to reflect on our situation, there's also been a lot of time to figure out what activities to keep our spirits up as much as possible. I've been doing several and I've detailed them in some of my livestreams - the obvious Netflix catchup, language learning (I'm picking up my Japanese again), music (in my case, singing and piano), and reading. There has been one creative endeavor I have been wanting to go back to for a while - creative writing. It's something I've had a complex relationship with for years (this blog and my previous one being no exception to this) and it's only now during this period that I've been able to begin to heal it.
This year's Camp NaNo has been my most successful writing campaign to date, not only in consistency but also in word count. My confidence in my creativity has gone up and I've also found a happy medium on my writing productivity. That moment when I crossed the 10,000 word mark was a magical space because that feeling of flow hadn't been in my world for so long.

 

Up until that point, the writing process I loved and felt passionate about was almost akin to pulling teeth. I couldn't produce anything outside of academia or journaling for a long time even with the ideas still coming to my brain. I'm not sure if this manuscript will see the light of day but the possibility of finishing the challenge gets me excited to go to my laptop everyday and get something down.
I'm still figuring out what finally managed to help me get through the gates. I'm still learning how to get better at my craft. But I'm glad that I'm feeling unconditional happiness again. I may write more posts here on the winding journey to this point.
For now, the biggest message I want to give to you is this - if you've been an creative rut, whether a short lived one or a lengthy one like I have, please know that there is a way through. Don't judge yourself harshly by what others produce no matter how tempting it is or that you could've started sooner. Relax and see where your words take you no matter how flawed or unclear things feel right now. Most importantly, remind yourself of the things you do enjoy in your craft and create more moments like that.
Take care of yourselves everybody. Find something you've always wanted to do and find a way to do it. Most importantly, may your heart be your guiding key.
<3 DJ MK