A Year of Months?

It's an idea I came up with long ago but have never carried out. An attempt to finish various writing projects by choosing one project a month and writing at least a complete first draft. It's a variation on National Novel Writing Month, but not limited to fiction. I signed up a few days ago, on the spur of the moment (once again), for this year's Camp NaNoWriMo and here on day three, I've written 3,000 words so far, but am already behind in my goal of 1,500 words a day with an ultimate goal of 45,000 words. 

This month's project is a novel (or possibly a novella) originally titled Bentham's Dream, about a prison in which the most vicious and dangerous criminals are condemned to a life of solitary confinement. The whole thing has been pretty much worked out in my mind over the past several years. What I've lacked is the discipline to actually write it all out. Whatever force pushed me into completing and self-publishing four novels about a decade in the past has abandoned me. I don't have the energy and concentration I had then. And I may not have the time. So this is a serious challenge. 

This month I abide by NaNo's rules, and will not include anything I've already written. If I meet the challenge, then I'll probably choose an in-progress nonfiction work for June and will include any of the fragments already written if they are suitable.

I've won a half dozen or more November NaNos in the past, so I know a book in a month is doable. The question is whether it's still doable -- for me.

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