NaNoWriMo ~ You In? Six Points to Consider

{Reading time ~ 5 minutes}

It’s that time of year to get your NaNoWriMo mojo brewing.  National Novel Writing Month is an adventure in writing a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.

Having jumped in the jungle gym of the funtivities last year, and finished with a 50,000-word manuscript, I can say the experience rocked, and has also informed my views for NaNoWriMo 2010.

I’ve received a few emails with questions from folks noticing my “winner” badge (magnet) on my refrigerator door in my side bar. So, I thought it’d be worth sharing with y’all my two cents about NaNoWriMo and how to make it a jungle gym of fun and success for you, too.

One: Write with the thought that this is your first draft, not your NOVEL with a capital “N.” Finishing NaNoWriMo requires reckless abandon with the knowledge you’ll need to go back and edit later. Putting the critical, hovering naysayer in the corner for a time out—for an entire month, with duct tape over her mouth—liberates the pen. You’ll be amazed. That reason alone is frikkin’ cool.

Two: From what I remember, considering the number of participants, a vanishingly small number of manuscripts written during NaNoWriMo ever go on to be published. One of the outliers I’ve heard about, Water for Elephants, was originally a NaNoWriMo effort. So, like all forays in life, never say (or believe) never.

Three: Have a plan before November 1st hits. For me, the decision to NaNoWriMo-GoGo last year was a bit of a fluke. In mid October, we experienced a crazy storm and lost power. I was sitting on a bean bag on the floor with a candle, pen, and paper, had heard of this contest, and thought, “Hmm, why not?” An idea for a story popped in my head. Then I thought, “Larry’s blog has taught me about story structure, I know the ropes, so let’s get 60 bullet points down on paper, Mr. Muse.” And, bingo. The bullet points came out of nowhere, with a lot of scratching out and moving points around over the next week or two.

These bullet points saved me. Each day, I simply chose two or three bullet points, one or two in the morning, one or two at night, and it happened. Before I knew it, the month was over and I had a manuscript. (As an aside, bullet points or an outline are allowed to be written prior to the start on November 1st.)

Four: “So what, Ms. Lori, big deal. Now you have a 50,000-word jumble. What did you do with it?”

I can hear you, I really can. You think this is crazy talk and a monumental waste of time. It’s okay, you’re not alone with this view.

What did I do with it? Nothing. I have yet to re-read it. It’s sleeping in a flash drive for another day or decade.

“What a waste of time!”

If you have this view, NaNoWriMo is not for you. (The person in quotes was actually me, at times.)

But, here’s why I disagree (with myself).

Five: You’ll build courage and learn to pace yourself.

NaNoWriMo is similar to preparing for a marathon. One of the most important aspects of training for a marathon is practicing (running) a long course at least once a week. What adversity will you learn to surmount? Making time to write, learning to write in a variety of conditions, ignoring the critic, and focusing your time, for starters. It won’t always be quiet or private when you need to write, for example, but you’ll still need to put in your daily ~2300 words to make it to the finish. Writing ~2300/day allows for a couple days of not writing per week. Just like marathon training, rest days are important for recovery.

While training for marathon, sometimes the hardest part is putting on your shoes, making the decision to run. Same for NaNoWriMo, you’ll have to make the decision to write almost every day, sometimes twice or thrice a day. Over time, you’ll crave your writing time and that’s when the fun really starts.

Six: Will you kiss and tell?

Last year, I announced at my blog I was partaking in the challenge and provided regular updates. I thought having you all around to keep me on track would help (it did) and I quite enjoyed the process of sharing my journey with you. This year, I’m still on the fence if I want to get my NaNoWriMo groove on, and if I do, I’ll keep it to myself. I have the faith and courage in myself that if I put my mind to this, I’ll succeed and I won’t need as much external help.

Having a few friends and my blog readers to cheer me on made all the difference last year. I had to take the phone-a-friend option more than once to keep me from throwing my pages in the trash heap and calling it quits. This contest can be daunting. You may need someone to talk you off the wall. Find that person (or persons) before you start. Okay?

I’ll be that person for you if you’d like support. Seriously! Let me know.

Until then, happy writing and I hope you seriously consider jumping in the NaNoWriMo jungle gym. Best to George and Jay as they prepare to approach the starting line! I’m behind you all 100% and will be at your side with Gatorade and applause.

Finally, I hope you enjoy this video. You may not know this about me, but I LOVE LISTENING TO BARBERSHOP QUARTETS! (Geek alert!!) I happened across this vid from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com. Thanks for passing this along, Debbie. It made my day to hear a barbershop quartet crooning about NaNoWriMo, what a creative crew!

[If you can't access the video below, click here.]

[photo courtesy *Sean via Creative Commons license]

Note of interest: This post was inspired by Davina, who asked me what I ended up doing with my NaNoWriMo manuscript. I highly suggest you visit Davina’s post for a solid overview of story structure. Thanks, Davina!

Questions? Comments? You know I love ‘em all. Jump on in, the water’s warm!

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