Another November has arrived. This means, another year of
NANOWRIMO has begun. This is the 20th year, I believe.
For those who don’t know, NANOWRIMO (or more officially NaNoWriMo
for those who want to take the time to type the acronym out correctly) stands
for National Novel Writing Month. This is a month where writers are encouraged
to write a novel (or a novella) of 50k or more words in 30 days. The goal of NANOWRIMO is to encourage
aspiring writers to produce a complete work, get in the habit of writing every
day, and to give them a community of other like-minded individuals for
encouragement and support.
I know there has been some controversy around this event. I’ve
heard career writers say they do not participate because they are writing all
the time anyway, so why would November be any different? I’ve also heard from
new, self-published, or yet-aspiring authors that it has helped them produce
content and/or get into a writing habit.
NANOWRIMO as a non-profit organization has set up various resources to
help writers of all ages (including creating a teen/young writers track) and provides
information and tools to help guide you through the whole novel creation
process. And yet, they also partner with a lot of products, sell merchandise,
and probably profit a bit from some of that.
While I have participated in 8 NANOWRIMOs, I haven’t really
paid attention to the other events they hold. This post, specifically, will be
about the rules for winning and why I do it. Let’s start with the rules.
1.
Writing starts at 12:00: a.m. on November 1 and
ends 11:59:59 p.m. on November 30, local time.
2.
No one is allowed to start early and the
challenge finishes exactly 30 days from that start point.
3.
Novels must reach a minimum of 50,000 words
before the end of November in order to win. These words can either be a
complete novel of 50,000 words or the first 50,000 words of a novel to be
completed later.
4.
Planning and extensive notes are permitted, but
no material written before the November 1 start date can go into the body of
the novel.
5.
Participants' novels can be on any theme, genre
of fiction, and language. Everything from fanfiction, which uses trademarked
characters, to novels in poem format, and metafiction is allowed; according to
the website's FAQ, "If you believe you're writing a novel, we believe
you're writing a novel too."
This seems like a lot of work. Why on earth would anyone
want to do it?!
Well…
Someone told me this year that a former participant of
NANOWRIMO said that “it doesn’t matter what you write, as long as you win.”
While I will be the first to say that the goal should not be to write just a bunch of garbage, hitting that 50k
word finish line is exhilarating. During the first year of NANOWRIMO, the organizer
actually asked to verify that participants actually met their word goal (7 of
the 21 entrants actually finished by the way). Nowadays, the “winning” is more honor-based
(yes, there’s a tracker, but you can lie to it). However, the word count “win” is really just
the visual representation of what you, the writer, is trying to accomplish.
Of the rules above, I have broken a number of them; whether
it’s not starting a NEW project on day 1, or counting other writing projects
done in November as part of my “word count”, or using the month for final
editing etc. But for me, of the NANOs that I have participated in, I have won 7
of 8. Did I write my 50k words each time? More or less…but the main point was that
I did what I told myself I’d do:
-
Finish the novel, even if that’s after November
end
-
Edit the novel even though the “new words” I wrote
fell under 50k…).
-
Write 50k+ words and get some of those unpleasant
asshole scenes on paper (which is harder than it sounds)
The most important thing about NANOWRIMO for me is that I
was able to use the combined energy of the event and the participants to
motivate myself to *do the work*.
Let’s break it down a little…
To successfully complete NANOWRIMO, unless you are a writing
machine, you really need to write a little every day. Because the standard 1667
words/day is a lot easier than 10000 words each weekend day plus and extra 10k
on the final day of the month. This “writing every day” thing, as I have heard
from many professional authors, is the only way to really be successful as a
writer. NANWRIMO is pushing that. For me, in doing NANOWRIMO, I’ve been
successful at writing *mostly* every day. However, while I have proven
to myself that I *can* do it, NANOWRIMO has also showed me that I don’t
want to do it all the time.
You see, writing every day is tough already. It becomes
infinitely tougher when you have a day job where you are on a computer every
day. Or when, in your off time, you’d rather do anything other than sit on a
computer more. Or when you crave social interaction after a day of burying
yourself in headphones and music, emails and Word files. Or when, you realize you’re in your mid-30s
now and need to go to the gym occasionally or your clothes stop fitting. Or when
you have a family or a partner or a pet that also needs attention. Or when…
TLDR version: It’s hard.
It’s just as hard as getting to the gym every day. Yes you can
do it, but you may be doing it at the expense of something else. Sometimes that
expense is other hobbies like video games or sewing or fencing, but other times
that expense is your partner, health, or sleep. This is a common struggle for a
lot of us who have not yet made a career of writing, but who desperately want
to. And until my partner can support me while I “work for money” 10-20
hours/week, this is going to be my reality.
But back to NANOWRIMO. It definitely has helped me with some
of these issues. It gives me social interaction, even if it is just writing
near other people and saying, “Hey, how’s it going?”. It gives me a reason to
get out of my house. It puts the fire and that little edge of competition under
me which helps guilt me into keeping it up. It gives me solidarity with other
writers, sharing frustrations and triumphs. It gives me inspiration, excitement
and pride at being a writer.
It gives me an excuse. For one month, I CAN do it. I can
make arrangements to write a crap-ton and (hopefully) finish a project. (Then I
can use the next 11 months to refine and promote that project and work on other
projects sporadically at my own pace…).
I know some people may turn their nose up at this approach
and say that I am not a serious writer, but I will disagree. If I weren’t a
serious writer, would I still be writing after 25 years? For a while, I allowed
those naysayers to get the best of me. You will see that in my NANOWRIMO
participation years: 2002, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, & 2019.
Those big gaps were when I stopped believing in myself (most notably 2002-2008.
I was in college and while I knew of NANOWRIMO groups getting together on campus,
I tried to pretend that I didn’t care).
I stopped believing in myself because I did not have the resources and
connections to convince me to keep it up. If I was not doing it “the serious
way”, what business did I have even trying?
The last 3 NANOWRIMOS I’ve participated in have changed all
that. I decided to seek out “write-ins” (where writers get together at a coffee
shop or library and write together for a few hours). I joined writer
communities, giving the NANO forums, Scribophile, CIPA (Colorado Independent
Publishers Association), Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Toastmasters and other
online groups a try. I had mixed success sticking with these communities but what
it did show me, was that there were a lot of people out there writing. Some
were snobby, and some were encouraging. Some were driven toward publication and
some were just doing it “for fun”. Some were like me.
I didn’t find my current writer “group” specifically from
NANO, but NANO has helped bring out all those writers that I already know (many
of whom I didn’t know wrote!). The relationships I’ve built have carried on
after NANOWRIMO was over. NANOWRIMO gave me access to a community that was
already in my world and to a world that I had no idea how to break into
otherwise. These groups, these individuals, encourage and push me to do better.
They help me up when I am falling. Because of them I am still moving forward. Still
making progress. Because of them, I have
been pushed to attend more conventions, writers’ groups, and writing workshops.
So for me, whether I make the word count or not, it doesn’t
matter. My participation in this event is one of the big ways I will work
(sometimes slowly) toward my ultimate, grander, goal: to get published.
And to all of you writers, my advice for you is to definitely participate in NANOWRIMO. Even if you don’t think you’ll make the 50k. What is important, is for you to think about what you really want to do, set an achievable goal, and then run with it. Even if that goal is just to reconnect you with this love you’ve had for as long as you’ve owned pencils.
 |
| Here is my 2018 NANOWRIMO "winner" certificate. If I can do it, you can too! |
Lyndsie
