Hello, lovelies! We’re in the middle of November, which means I’m deep in the National Novel Writing Month trenches!
Dude, Say What?
National Novel Writing Month (or: NaNoWriMo or NaNo) spans the entire month of November. It’s an annual online event, in which writers all over the world commit to writing or revising 50,000 words of a novel they’re working on. It’s basically a global writing marathon with hundreds of thousands of participants! Fun!
What Are The Rules?
The rules are simple: starting on the first of November, writers begin drafting a new novel (or they do a fresh rewrite of an old one). By the end of the month, the goal is to have written at least 50,000 words – though plenty of writers use the momentum of NaNo to revise a story that’s already been (partly) written.
Like, WHY?
Writers take up the NaNo challenge for various reasons. For me, the biggest motivations are:
- It forces me to simply sit down, turn off me inner critic / procrastinator, and write. Make way, peeps, I have word counts to slay and goals to conquer!
- For one, glorious month, my writing is THE biggest priority in my life, and I don’t feel guilty about it.
- The practice of writing so much so fast improves my craft (even if it doesn’t always feel that way). Writing quickly is a skill, which will serve my stories in the future, and even though my writing during NaNo will probably not be my best writing, it does teach me how to get better by doing.
- NaNoWriMo turns a solitary struggle into a collective gathering of like-minded souls. The NaNo community is truly wonderful, and the social media posts, events, and knowledge-sharing blogs (both by newbie writers and established authors) are great motivators to stay on track!
Of course, as with all things in life, NaNo is not every writer’s cup of tea; perhaps it’s too much pressure, perhaps you absolutely *detest* the idea of a challenge that must be won, or perhaps writing every day just doesn’t work for you – that’s totally fine! For me, however, NaNo is a fun and super motivating way to kick-start a new project (even if I don’t “win” the challenge).
Then What?
Of course, “winning” NaNo doesn’t mean you have a spectacularly finished book in your hands, and agents are going to fight each other with swords and pick axes, in an epic battle to represent your story. Oh, no! No, no, no!
When November is over and you’ve taken some time to enjoy your accomplishments (whether it’s 50,000 new words or perhaps a big chunk of revisions), you will have to set new goals: revision goals! After all, writing is rewriting!
To all fellow writers doing NaNoWriMo this year: good luck! May the odds be ever in your favor!
To those of you who aren’t participating in NaNo: please know I’m cheering on you, too! Yay!