The Blog

No, this is not an ode to Mork & Mindy - though I do love the insanely talented Robin Williams. Rather, a glimpse into the writers - published, yet-to-be-published, and closet writers - that willingly sign on for 30 days of insanity, also known as National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.

I first heard of this competition through a writer friend up north in Canada. She told me that she’d participated the past few years. A young wife and mother with two little ones and a busy home business, she along with all other NaNoWriMo participants would be attempting to write a 50,000 word novel (more of a novella) within just 30 days. Though I admired her as a business woman and as a writer, I thought that the idea of turning out a novel worth reading in just a month seemed completely impossible. 

The next year (2006) I decided that I would give NaNoWriMo a try. I jumped in gung ho and for the first four or five days I performed well above the goal of 1,667 words per day. Those words just flew off my fingertips. By the second week I’d convinced myself that it was ridiculous to think I could keep up with a burgeoning business, demanding clients, and write 50,000 words in just 30 days. I spent very little time on the project over the following week.

Then at the beginning of the fourth week I felt bad that I’d given up so easily. I jumped back into the project and started writing like a madwoman. I consistenly produced more than 3,000 words per day during that period. In the end I fell short, and I am still disapointed that I didn’t keep pushing through the discomfort of that second week.

By the time NaNoWriMo came around this year I was prepared. I’d fleshed out my characters, developed an outline, sketched out the back story, and determined the settings. Things I hadn’t done prior to last year’s event. I was off running on November 1st. My original goal was to accomplish 2,000 words per day. The next day I upped my goal to 2,500. The next day I upped it to 3,000. Of course, after the first four or five days, my word count started to slow down. Sound familiar?

So, now at 15,323 words after ten days, my average is a little over 1,500 words per day. Not bad any other month, but under goal for NaNoWriMo. So, I will start the day with a little exercise, a little face time with the family, and then I will begin writing like I am completely possessed. Possessed by my story and by its characters. I will try to stick closely to my outline, but I am thrilled when the characters begin to introduce a few of their own suprises, leading the story in a different direction. 

 I will try to curb my internal editor, which makes me start each  day by editing the previous passage, often losing word count instead of gaining it. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to just get that novel out of you. You can spend the next month - or the next two years - editing it. Right now it is just about getting those words out. And that is what I will try to do.

Want to see whether I make goal? You’ll find my author site over at the NaNo site here. 

Posted by Samara in Career, Link-worthy |

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 11th, 2007 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Career, Link-worthy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.