It’s that time of year again where writers spring out of the woodwork to rise to the NaNoWriMo challenge. Some of you will know what that is, some of you won’t care, and that is alright.
The reason I’m blogging about it is because;
a) This blog belongs to a writer, so at some point I was going to have to talk about writing related things.
b) I will be participating in NaNo once again this year.
For those of you who don’t know, and might care – NaNoWriMo is the ‘awkward to say’ abbreviation for National Novel Writing Month. A challenge put to writers all over to globe where they are dared to write a ‘novel’ of 50,000 words in just 30 days.
Many published authors mock the idea saying that anyone who is actually determined to become a writer will write during the other 11 months of the year, and that nothing good and publishing worthy can actually come out of it. This is, and isn’t true.
Take myself for example – I write for a living, and by the time I get home I’ve pretty much lost any desire to pull out a pen and write about the things I love. Hence why these blog posts are so few and far between. It doesn’t mean I don’t have huge writer-ly dreams and it certainly doesn’t mean I’m not a writer, I just have this little thing called life that tends to get in the way.
NaNo last year was an excuse to force myself to write something that I loved. I did it simply to prove that I could. That if I can find the drive, I can write every day. I also ignored everything in the world for an entire month because once work and NaNo were completed I didn’t have a speck of time left over.
When NaNo was over I had a piece of fiction in need of serious editing that may or may not ever see the light of day. As such, the nay-sayers are correct – it certainly isn’t publishable quality. However that doesn’t mean that nothing good can come out of it. Last year I conquered my laziness and my tendency to edit a story to death and it was a wonderful experience.
This year, I’m taking the challenge a little differently and I’m going to twist it to suit my personal needs.
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I will have a plan. Last year I simply wrote. This year I know exactly where I want my story to go, and I have been working on the details as much as I can.
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I will allow myself to edit as I would prefer that this story emerge in a much higher quality.
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50k is the goal, however mine is to continue writing the story until it is done. Beyond the 30 days if need be.
For those of you who know me, I apologize if I’m a little scarce during November. I’ll freely admit, I’ve scheduled the bulk of my available holidays for November to give me a few extra days where I can focus on writing.
Depending on how I like the story that unfolds I may or may not post some snippets for you to read. No promises though!
Now that you know what I’m up to; is NaNo something you would consider? If you are participating I’d love to know what your motivation is!
For more info on NaNoWriMo or to sign up (it’s free) please check out www.nanowrimo.org