Word Count vs. Inspiration

Sometimes (well, many times) I set goals that are just a bit lofty. I nearly always fall short of them, and then I feel compelled to ask myself why: am I not working hard enough? Am I not dedicated enough? Do I not have what it takes? Or do I just need to tone down my perfectionism and high standards?

Hint: the answer is usually that last one, the one about unreasonable standards...

This month, though, one of my goals turned out to be way too easy. I wanted to make sure I read a script or saw a play, and guess what? I burned through Cruel Intentions on the drive to Pennsylvania last weekend and I'm eager for me!

The scales have bee tipping ever closer to a rebel year for NaNoWriMo. All signs point to a completed stage play on December 1. The only problem: winning.

"Winning" NaNoWriMo means writing 50,000 words, and that's a bit (well, a lot) long for a script. I've gotten suggestions to over-write it or include my planning documents, but I don't want to practice bad form just for word count and my process involves very little outlining.

More likely than not, I'm going to have to redefine "winning." I'm either going to have to trick the little blue bar into tipping 50,000 or I'm going to have to call it a success if I have a completed script at 11:59 on November 30. But really, NaNoWriMo is about the adventure, about writing with abandon, and about exiting the month with a completed draft you never thought you'd hold in your hands. And wouldn't that be true even if I didn't pad my stage play to three times its weight with overly directorial, flowery descriptions?