Genus: Lilius Overachievius

A Note from Lily: This post is dedicated to my friend across the pond that uses my name as his definition of “overachievement.” You swear you’re a slacker…but I know better! One day, you’re going to overachieve and I’m going to be there to say, “I told you so.”

It happened so quickly. I really don’t actually know how I talked myself into it. Over the summer, I took up writing again because I knew I’d need a hobby because a lot of Lenny’s free time would be taken up with working on his Master’s Degree. I started with a short story, which I completed around August/September. Feeling exhilaration after completing a personal goal, I went off in search of my next writing challenge. After a friend of mine read my short story, he asked me, “Have you ever heard of Nano?”

“NaNoWriMo” or “National Novel Writing Month” occurs every November. It’s a challenge to aspiring novelists everywhere. The goal of the “competition” is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. When you hit 50,000, you are considered a “winner.” There is no actual prize…just the satisfaction that you finished. And that is more than enough for the thousands who join every year. Even as a kid, I had always wanted to write a book. Initially, I hemmed and hawed. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take on a novel. The seeds of doubt tried to imbed themselves in my mind. For most of September, I actually pushed the idea away whenever it would creep into my head.

By the time the end of September rolled around, I sat down one day and looked up the NaNoWriMo website (www.nanowrimo.org). As I read about the event, my mind started to open up. By the end of the day, I had decided “Why the hell not?” By the end of the weekend, I had roped in a friend to write with me. We figured it would be fun…if we made it, we made it. If we didn’t, at least we tried, right? Deep down inside, I knew I was cushioning myself for the fact that I wasn’t going to make the 50K. I mean, really…that’s A LOT of writing. It took me 2 months to complete my short story! How the heck was I going to write a novel?

I should have known better. When I started writing on November 1st, I should have known that I was going to make the 50K goal come hell or high water. It’s always been this way with me. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind, there’s this piece of me that strives on the fact that I want to be successful in ANYTHING that I do. It kills me when I have to step aside or give up on a project or interest of mine before I feel like I’ve truly mastered it. To me, that’s quitting. And…if I’m not on top of my game at whatever I’m doing…this Lily isn’t a happy camper.

Yeah…I’ll admit it. I am a textbook overachiever.

I look back on my life and think hard about my attitude. I don’t ever recall failure being an option. I might not be the best – but I never allowed myself to quit or cut myself short. Call it ego, confidence, or whatnot. I fully admit to being competitive. Who doesn’t like winning? But even as a child, I realized that winning didn’t mean anything unless I took something away from it.

But I won’t lie. I enjoyed winning. C’mon…when you’re young…who didn’t?

Nowadays, my overachievement is not even because I want to win. I have plenty of trophies from speech, piano, and writing to last me a lifetime. And where are they? Well…the ones I’m really proud of (all three or four of them) are in the upstairs office of my house. Those are the ones I busted my ass for! The rest? They’re either in storage here or in storage at my parent’s home. Somewhere along the line…I lost my trophy lust.

The Lily you read from today overachieves because a) She doesn’t know any better or b) She’s in it for the experience. Yeah, I won NaNoWriMo and clocked in at 50,020 words on November 26th. I could have just stopped right there. What else did I have to prove? In fact, I took the rest of the month off from writing. The problem was my book wasn’t finished. And it irked me that it wasn’t done. So with the help of my NaNo Buddy, we set a new deadline and I got back on the writing horse.

Another 20,000-plus words later, I had a 160 page first draft of my very first novel. And to be perfectly honest, finishing the novel was a million times better that getting to 50,000. All my friends and family congratulated me and lauded my feat. Inside, I felt that if I could write a freaking BOOK, I could pretty much do anything.
Yes, I am guilty of overachievement. But you know what? I really don’t mind. It just means that my life is going to be more enriched. I shudder to think what would happen if I didn’t finish my novel. I wouldn’t be working on the second draft. I wouldn’t be barreling headlong into yet another short story. And most importantly, I never would have written “To Vex a Verbalist” (http://moderngirlfriday.blogspot.com/2006/01/to-vex-verbalist_25.html), which lead to creating The Modern Girl Friday Blog.

So how do you like my overachievement now, baby?