Musings

Tortoise or the Hare?
by Brandy S. Brow

I began the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge on November 1, 2007, determined to complete the 50,000 words in thirty days as I had in 2004. I quickly realized, however, that I couldn't shove aside responsibilities for the 1,667-word daily quota like the first time.

A week in, I gave up NaNoWriMo time for my monthly newspaper column, a deadline I nearly missed. I wrote about promptness and commitment, and proclaimed that because I was being faithful to my responsibilities, I believed I would somehow reach 50K by the November 30 NaNoWriMo deadline.

Three weeks later, I was still 22,000 words behind. The most words I had ever written per day was 5,000, and only four days remained. I could barely make 50K. If not for my profession of faith to over 20,000 locals, I might have quit.

Next morning, Proverbs 27:1 caught my attention. "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." Indeed—responsibilities had crippled word output so much I couldn't count on making the quota. But I had done what was needed when needed.

Two days later, only two days left, and Proverbs 27:1 hung over me. So did 16,000 unwritten words. Two 8,000-word days exceeded my capabilities. I lamented my pending NaNoWriMo failure. That evening a question entered my mind. "If you win, will you continue to write?"

"Of course," I replied. But my track record pricked my conscience. I was only writing so much because I raced to a finish line. Any ordinary day my writing came in spurts, like I was the jack rabbit in the tortoise and hare fable. Actually, I'd been the tortoise all month, but fought it, thinking the tortoise slow and unprofitable. But God knew better. He wanted me to reject the contestant attitude toward writing in exchange for a professional one; to be faithful and steady as the fable's tortoise—one who does NaNoWriMo writing every day as a way of life, not a thirty day stint.

That meant discipline to pace myself, and would probably cost me the 50K and my public integrity. I considered the costs, successes and failures, ease and hardship, and then swallowed, let go of the 50K, and surrendered.

Still held by my public profession, I opened my NaNo project the next day with tortoise mentality and began to write. And write. And write. At the end of the day I stared at my calculator readout wide eyed: 9,256. Suddenly 50K became possible.

"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth," reverberated in my mind. After a month of responsibilities had kept me from writing, God cleared them the last two days so I could write, and I reached 50K by deadline—something I never could've or would've predicted. And I suspect it only came because I stuck to my commitments, remained faithful to the end despite how things looked, and surrendered to being the tortoise.