NaNoWriMo: Who Should, Who Should Not?

November is National Novel Writing Month. It's actually international, and no one has high expectations that anyone is going to have a polished novel in thirty days. But still.

The idea is to put down 50,000 words between November 1st and November 30th. (Again, I've never seen a 50,000 word novel, but there aren't any rules that say you can't write more—and a surprising number of people manage 90,000 and more.)

Participants are encouraged to start from scratch and just enjoy a word blow-out. If I felt like I had a "free" thirty-day period to get goofy with writing, the starting from scratch concept would be a kick. And if in the end, all I had was a pile of garbage, it still would be a fun experiment.

Last year, my first year, I decided to add 50,000 words to the project I was working on. It was fun, I loved the encouragement from the emails, and although I did not hit 50,000 words, I wrote quite a few. A lot of them keepers.

Who should participate in NanoWriMo?

If you have a new story brewing around in your brain, Nano would be a great way to get it off the ground.

If you want to add 50,000 words to the manuscript you're currently working on, it's perfect.

If you tend to work on multiple projects at once, and can set the others aside for a bit, I think it might be like a terrific vacation to jump into fresh waters.

If you freeze up under competitive pressure, are notoriously self-critical, or feel the need to be perfect and edit everything over and over, NanoWriMo might be the perfect tool to work through those issues, which to some writers, can be paralyzing.

If you would like to see some terrific encouragement (much of it from published, big-name authors) show up in your mailbox, NanoWriMo is without peer.

Who Should Not?

If you're pushing against a finish line for a project you're working on, and you're concerned about it, this might not be the year for you.

Unless of course, you'd like those encouraging emails.

CR: Still reading the Joseph Finder.

It's all better with friends.

Weirdness Loves Company

On one hand, I'm a dismal failure at Nanowrimo. I try and console myself with the fact that it's my first time making this effort, and I broke one of the rules from the very beginning. . . . I didn't start from scratch, but rather from a piece of writing that already meant something to me. I was invested. My fantasy of freewheeling wordplay was riddled with fallacy.

On the other hand, I am putting more words down on a daily basis than I have for a long time, and that feels good. This is the hand I try to keep in front of me when I'm frustrated . . . by me.

Writing is a solitary thing—something I both seek out and rebel against.

That's kind of weird, but it's not The Weird Thing. Ready?

I imagine that as I sit here stringing words together in an effort to decorate the pages with the pictures in my head, I'm clacking away at my keyboard at the same time as Stephen King and Dean Koontz and Michael Connelly and Elizabeth George are clacking away at theirs. What amazing company I'm part of!



CR: Field of Blood by Eric Wilson. I just started this book, but look for the review here when I'm finished.

It's all better with friends.

My Nano Puddle

At this point, I have four buddies writing their hearts out to get to 50,000 words for the month of November. (If you're involved, I'm listed under Peg Brantley . . . I know that's not very innovative. I'm saving innovative for when I really need it.)

For those on-track, the total word count for the month should be about 20,000. I am shooting for the moon with 6,813. I have one buddy really close at 18,456, and I couldn't be more proud. My other two are both in the 12,000 range and I think they are rockin'.

One of my buddies, a pubbed author, is sitting at 1,777. Have you heard of a sandbagger? This person is gonna come out at the eleventh hour with a full 100,000 word novel. I just know it.




Still reading Orbit.

Not very happy with my word count, but hey . . . maybe they're all keepers. Yeah, right.

It's all better with friends.

I'M OUT-NANOED!!!

I usually try and hide this time of year, and to tell you the truth, that still sounds like a pretty good idea. All of this eagerness and excitement for the month of November causes me to break out in a sweat and curdle things sloshing in the bottom of my stomach.

If only I had a rabbit hole handy.

November is National Novel Writing Month. I've been unable to decide if it was shortened to NaNoWriMo out of affection or derision.

The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. It just happens that one of my busiest months of the year was chosen for the event. I'm pretty sure it was a man who selected November. Why not March?

People from all over the world sign up to encourage each other in this quest. There's competition and tracking.

And Good Golly, Miss Molly . . . I just signed up. What was I thinking?

Here's the thing . . . I need to learn how to control my Inner Editor. I need to learn to get the bones down without worrying about what they look like, or even if they're connected. I think adding 50,000 words to my current work-in-process can only be positive—even if I end up taking half of them out when I edit in December.

And here's a smart thing . . . I just got an email from NaNoWriMo with the subject: NaNoWriMo Loves Peg Brantley.

And this from the email: Do not edit as you go. Editing is for December. Think of November as an experiment in pure output. Even if it's hard at first, leave ugly prose and poorly written passages on the page to be cleaned up later. Your inner editor will be very grumpy about this, but your inner editor is a nitpicky jerk who foolishly believes that it is possible to write a brilliant first draft if you write it slowly enough. It isn't. Every book you've ever loved started out as a beautifully flawed first draft. In November, embrace imperfection and see where it takes you.


So maybe it is with affection.

I'll let you know.




CR: On Writing by Stephen King.

Working on: Adding words every day . . . not waiting for November.


It's all better with friends.