True, true — 10,000 steps you take in a supermarket are not the same 10,000 steps you take when you hike up a mountain. However, I write 30-month challenges not to publish that particular manure-filled manuscript in the end, but rather to practice discipline with an iron fist. What I learned doing NaNoWriMo is: get out of your own head; get out of your own way; if you don’t stop crying on the floor in a fetal position while sucking your thumb you’ll never write a damn word; ego is the true enemy, but laundry comes a close second.