I spent November participating in National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, an annual writing marathon of banging out 50,000 words in thirty days, which breaks down to roughly 1,667 words per day. The primary goal of NaNoWriMo is to generate a messy first draft, but the deeper purpose is to develop a writing habit and unleash your creativity. Discipline and silencing your inner critic are crucial to getting the most out of this challenge. Since it took me ten years to write my second book, I needed this boot camp like nobody’s business. Completing half a novel in a month? Sign me up!
But as a NaNoWriMo novice, I can humbly confess–drumroll, please–that I was among the 85% who did not reach 50,000 words. I wrote nearly every day for hours on end but discovered I’m one of those people who can’t write with abandon and put thoughts and words on a page without editing as I go along. Working towards a daily word count was nerve-racking and there were many times I—and my manuscript—felt like a hot mess. In my defense, I had to rethink main character names (a seemingly simple yet complicated task!) and reconstruct a critical detail in the fictionalized world I’m building. I was stuck; mentally incapable of moving forward until I had sorted out those two problems.
Despite a less than stellar outcome, I don’t regret the time and effort I spent on NaNoWriMo. It’s a fantastic initiative and enabled me to connect with a virtual community of writers. After months of running around and feeling scattered, I established a daily writing routine and am much farther along than I would have been without NaNoWriMo. Most importantly, I never wanted to give up. Even though I fell behind–and it would be cosmically impossible for me to get back on track–I never considered throwing in the towel.
But to maintain this momentum, I have to put my writing at the top of my to-do list. Participating in this 30-day challenge required prioritizing it over everything that wasn’t essential. I define “essential” as my family and author-related work, so trying a new exercise class, coffee mornings, and other interesting activities that fuel my imagination had to take a back seat to even contemplate reaching that 1,667 daily word count. My biennial mammogram? Essential. Checking out a new restaurant? Not so much. Once-in-a-lifetime events like my 20th Wedding Anniversary and birthdays were celebrated, but there was no room for extraneous pursuits. NaNoWriMo provides a checklist on how to prep and suggests ways your family and friends can help you reach the 50,000 words goal. My husband and kids were super-supportive and pepped me up when I was losing steam.
Even with an outline and strict time management, I still fell short of 50K and didn’t win my NaNoWriMo badge. My husband joked that whatever the deadline is, just double it! The most frustrating part of this challenge was sitting for eight hours to only write 500 words. NaNoWriMo has motivated me to find strategies to accelerate my thought process and improve my writing flow. Moving forward, I need to focus on a rough first draft and throw perfection to the wind.
I would definitely take part in NaNoWriMo again and thank the organization for creating such an inspiring writing platform and laying out a program for success. It was liberating to hunker down and concentrate exclusively on my new book. It rejiggered my mindset and expanded my creative bandwidth. It also confirmed that I need structure and space to gather my thoughts. In the spirit of NaNoWriMo, my current goal is one chapter a week. It’s a good number for my approach to writing and I’ll apply the NaNoWriMo mentality to stay the course. In the mean time, maybe NaNoWriMo would consider giving me an honorable mention…