What I find really hard to believe is that NaNoWriMo has been around since 1999. How could I have possibly missed it all this time?
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Every November, avid writers across the world hunker down and try to spew forth 50,000 words, approximately 175 pages, in just 30 days.
Now, I've been working on a novel. I started it back in May. It took me six months to come up with 46,000 words. The idea of doing the same thing inside of a month sounded really scary, overwhelming, impossible.
The most impossible part was that the NaNoWriMo novel should not be started before November 1st. They suggest you don't go into the challenge with a previous project because you won't be able to throw caution to the wind and write your heart out. It's a challenge of quantity, not quality, and if you start with a half finished baby of a novel and care too much, it will just slow you down.
I did not have another novel idea in me to start from scratch. So I decided to join the project as a rebel, coloring outside the lines. I'm just trying to add 50,000 words to my current novel instead. Not their rules exactly, but so what? 50,000 words is 50,000 words.
I created an account on Nanowrimo.org. It has a bar graph with a daily stair step to show me where I need to be to stay on track. Today is day 19, and tells me I should be at 31,667. I'm proud to admit I'm only slightly behind at 29,629.
But I think I'll fall off the wagon the last ten days. Tomorrow I'm going on a camping trip with the Young Women, and then it's the week of Thanksgiving, with family dinners and a road trip to Austin. I just don't see 19,333 words hitting the page between now and December first.
Plus, I just finished the first big climax chapter, the one I had all planned out in my head and was working towards. The details of what comes next are more of a blur, and won't fly from my fingers quite so smoothly. I'll have to mull scenes over and work out the details before I can even write them.
So I didn't start from scratch on November first. And maybe I won't get my whole 50,000 words by the end of the thirty days, but whatever I do at this point, it will be the most I've ever written in a month. Ever.
And in the end, isn't that what NaNoWriMo is all about?
Thursday, November 19, 2009
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4 comments:
Good for you! Keep those fingers flyin'!
Did you know it's also Movember, the grow-your-moustache-for-prostate-cancer-awareness months? Movember.com, baby. I was going to rope James into it, but I'm still loving his sexy goatee and I think the just-moustache look is gross (my father-in-law excepted). Also, didn't want to ruin the baby pictures. :)
That's so admirable, I have another blogroller who is involved in the same thing and my question to her is the same to you -- where do you find the time? I'm lucky if I get 1 hour of reading in a day.
Wow! That is great! I have a friend that has been doing this for years and I don't know how you guys can find time to do it either! Way to go! I hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving. :) We miss you guys.
Good Luck, Heather!! You can do it! :)
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