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| Photo credit: jordanfischer on Flickr |
Confession: technically, I’ve never done NaNoWriMo. I have written a book in a month and I’m
relatively sure I’ve written at or near 50k in a month on more than one
occasion, but never in the month of November. I wanted to do it this year,
honestly I did, but I don’t want anything to distract me from finally finishing
these WIP edits, so…next year. I hope.
But I didn’t write this post to confess my non-NaNo
blasphemy, because although I’m not
doing NaNo this year, I know quite a few of you are. So.
Writing a book in a month is no easy feat and I don’t mean
the literal getting words down part because that, although challenging,
probably won’t be the biggest obstacle you’ll face this month.
You see, we’re still at the beginning, so most of you out
there are probably going pretty strong and feeling good about what you’ve put
down—which is fantastic. I’ve seen some people hit 8-10k in the first two days
which is just mind-blowingly awesome to me, so kudos to you amazing people out
there.
But writing like this is like running at full throttle for the entire race and after a while, you’re going to start to get tired. You might miss a day, maybe two or three,
then the mountain of words ahead of you will start to feel overwhelming. Or
maybe it’s the idea—maybe the premise that sounded fantastic on November 1st
will start to feel stale on the 15th. It happens, and for those of
you who encounter it, I want to tell you not to give up.
Look, you’re not going to come out of this with a
masterpiece ready for submission. It’s going to be messy and a little ugly, and
some parts of it will make you want to burn the entire thing and start fresh
and that’s ok.
The point of NaNoWriMo isn’t to create a work of literary
genius—hell, it’s not even to get 50,000 words down in a month. The point is to
write—something, anything, it doesn’t
matter as long as you make the effort to get something down so that you have
something you didn’t at the beginning of the month. Maybe it’ll only be the
start of a novel, or an outline, or maybe it’ll be a full draft that you love
or 50,000 words that you hate.
That’s not the point.
The point is that you can’t fail as long as you accomplish something.
Right now, you’re digging up the clay. You’re pulling the essence of a story
together and you’re doing it with a community of other writers there to help
you and encourage you along the way. There is no failure here.
Some days you’re going to want to quit. Don’t do it. Keep
writing, keep working, keep sweating and bleeding and getting those words down.
This is what being a writer is all about, and it’s not always pretty or fun.
Some days you’re going to glance at what you have and think
it’s awful. Stop looking at it and keep writing. Keep pushing forward. Don’t
think about anything other than finishing the next sentence, the next
paragraph, the next page.
NaNoWriMo isn’t easy because writing isn’t easy, but I
believe in you. As long as you keep your head down and your fingers on the
keys, you’ll come out with something to show for it.
Don’t stop writing. I’ll see you on the other side.
Raise of hands! How many of you are out there are doing NaNo this year?
Let’s hear some status reports!
I'm not doing NaNo.I'm still editing and I haven't finished planning my new project. So November is NaNoPla for me (pla=planning). :D
ReplyDeleteThat's ok. That's makes two of us non-NaNo blasphemers. :)
ReplyDeleteI am doing nano, though it is much more difficult for me than last year. Perhaps because I try to combine it with a 40+ hour job and moving house or maybe because I chose a different genre than I am used to write. However, I am still keeping up with the required daily wordcount and I am going to stcik to it! :)
ReplyDeleteYou must be a very busy woman. 40+ hour job, moving AND doing NaNo--that is seriously impressive!
ReplyDeleteKeep at it! There will be time for celebration at the beginning of December. :)
I am not sure why I did this to myself, lol ;) I guess I just love nano too much but the timing is a bit bad after we just moved and I don't even have my own desk yet :). lol.... I guess December will be all about sleep :P
ReplyDeleteI was SO tempted to jump in (especially on October 31st...) but in the end I resisted. I totally understand why you decided to go in, though, as I almost did it to myself. :D
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, sleep in December is prize enough.
Great advice!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm doing NaNo, but not committed to 50,000 words. I'm committed to using it to jumpstart the second book in my series. Thanks for the encouragement, Ava!
ReplyDeleteWhat better way to jump-start a novel than a mad November dash with your writing buddies? I wish you the best!
ReplyDeleteAnd you're very welcome. ^_^
On the morning of Day Four, I'm at 5277 and fighting a mad bout of I-Can't-Do-This, which is too stinkin' early for said bout. But maybe it'll be out of my system by, say, Day Ten, and then comes the next terrifying and thrilling step: finishing the darn thing?
ReplyDeleteTake it one day at a time. It gets overwhelming if you start thinking ahead. You've put down over 5000 words already, just keep going!
ReplyDeleteOnly 2000 words in right now, but hoping to up the count with a write-in tonight. Just 1000 words a day will put me over the moon!
ReplyDelete1000 words a day is a great goal. Break it up into pieces and you can do it!
ReplyDeleteThis is my first year participating. I know I'm totally going to get stuck at some point. One thing that is helping me is to write out of sequence. I don't know if it is normal or not but it's what I've always done. Don't feel like writing chapter to chapter? Skip to the scene you're thinking of. Just write SOMETHING. Doesn't have to be in order :)
ReplyDeleteI personally prefer writing in order, but I've heard a lot of writers say that writing out of sequence helps. You're completely right though, you don't need to write chapter to chapter if you don't want to--as long as you write something, anything, you're making progress.
ReplyDeleteOoh I loved this post! I'm doing NaNo this year and I broke the cardinal rule today and looked back.... and HATED everything I wrote. But I know that's not the point!! I'm above the suggested word count at this point..which is good... but I really wish the story I was writing actually HAD good writing in it. lol
ReplyDelete95/100 times, the first draft is a few notches less than gorgeous, but it doesn't matter--that can all be fixed in rewrites. Right now focus on digging up the clay so that you can refine it into something amazing later. Keep going! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's my first time doing NaNo and I decided to do it just to get some ideas out of my head. For the first few days I was SO PUMPED. Today I'm kind of struggling. But I'm averaging about 2700 words a day, which I never thought I was capable of. Goes to show what you can do if you just put your nose to the grindstone! (Now back to writing.)
ReplyDeleteNice post! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm doing NaNo for the third time this year. I like to try something new each year (a new genre, writing style, etc). Right now I'm on a creative high. :) During the year, I don't give myself the time to write every single day, so it's a great boost.
2700 words is a great daily average! Congratulations! It's not easy to keep the momentum going, especially as the writing starts to become more difficult, but keep at it and you'll have 50k in no time. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic! I could see how allowing yourself the time to write everyday when you don't normally get the chance to do so would feel incredible. What new thing are you doing this time around?
ReplyDeleteI am, for the first time. I'm realizing the awful reality of "just writing." Sooooooo many people out there write ABOUT writing, or read ABOUT writing (like me). NaNoWriMo is a good kick in the rear, a good "do-you-really-want-to-do-this-with-your-life reality-check." Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteNothing can prepare you for writing like writing can. :)
ReplyDelete