Category: NaNoWriMo

  • IWSG – On Finish NaNoWriMo Projects

    IWSG – On Finish NaNoWriMo Projects

    The Insecure Writer's Support GroupIt’s IWSG Day again! The question this month is…

    Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

    This is a doozy of a question, but allow me to drop a plug for IWSG before I dive in. The Insecure Writer’s Support Group, founded by the esteemed Alex J. Cavanaugh, is an online space where writers (insecure and otherwise) can come together to share stories, successes, struggles, and all the rest of it. The website is chock-o-block full of great stuff. There’s a Twitter Pitch, which I haven’t checked out yet, contests, books, swag, conferences, and more. Be sure to jump over there and check them out! The awesome co-hosts for the November 1 posting of the IWSG are Tonja Drecker, Diane Burton, MJ Fifield, and Rebecca Douglass! Do follow the links and jump over to their sites to say hello.

    Okay, back to the question. NaNoWriMo. Do I usually finish my projects, and have I gotten any of them published? I’ve written about my views regarding the merits of NaNoWriMo before this. If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, check out this earlier post I wrote that explains all (well, nearly all).

    Here’s the thing. I’m a fiercely competitive person. It’s ugly, or rather I turn ugly when I engage in activities with a competitive component. There are dark times in my childhood related to Red Rover, pick-up games of football at recess, gym sports.

    Despite what some might argue, NaNoWriMo does have a competitive edge embedded into it, and if I’m not careful I could slice myself wide open on it. Not to mention my friends, my family, my graduate studies, my job.

    Do participants actually compete with other folks during the event? No. However, there are achievement badges we can earn, forums where people can “support” each other. I have “Writing Buddies” whose progress I check on. There’s definitely an inherent feeling that I need to keep up with the authorial Jones going on when I participate.

    I Always Win, but…

    I cheat. Oh, Thor! Do I ever cheat! The first year I did it, I won fair and square. But that was the only

    Cheating cyclist
    That guy running up the steps during the bike race? Yeah, that’s me.

    time I penned all 50k in November. And, that project was far from “finished.” That draft didn’t wrap itself up until March! It’s not getting published, by the way. It’s a steaming pile. Which is fine. I learned a LOT writing that draft.  Of course, cinderella stories exist about breakout authors whose best-selling debut novels were drafted during NaNoWriMo.  I remain highly skeptical. To discuss further would merit a whole other post.

    This year is the first year since my original foray into the world of NaNoWriMo that I haven’t begun working on my WIP early. No, wait. Scratch that. I totally gave myself a 12,000-word head start. Why? Because I have a problem, that’s why.

    If I don’t take some of the pressure off by getting a block of writing done in advance, thereby lowering the daily word count goal from a genuinely challenging 1,667 to something closer to 1,000, ugly me might emerge once more. Plus, it makes the volume of words I need to write in November actually fit into my life without harming my spouse or my children. Yes! My children! I do it for my children! Justification accomplished.

    It’s Not Really About Winning or Losing

    Chimpanzee at a TypewriterThe spirit of NaNoWriMo is about getting writers to put words on the page. If that’s the ultimate goal, who cares if I get a head start, especially if the story is calling to me?

    It’ does, too. The closer November first gets, the more I find myself thinking about the story and itching to get at it.

    For me, that itch is one of the biggest pros to taking part in NaNoWriMo. I just need to mitigate the underlying competitive aspects of the event, dull the sword’s edge if you will. 30,000 words in a single month is still a challenging goal for me. It’s just… less challenging, and therefore less likely to bring out the I-must-win-at-all-costs-and-if-you-get-in-my-way-so-help-me-I-will-end-you side of my personality.

    At the end of the month, I log my wins. That first year, when I won fair and square, I celebrated by purchasing Scrivener, a new fountain pen, and a new notebook. Every year after that, I’ve rewarded myself with a new fountain pen and a new notebook, but I don’t feel right about taking advantage of the coupons and discounts and whatnot if I don’t load all 50,000 words into 30 days.

    When my kids get a little older and I’m not in the midst of a graduate program, then maybe I’ll put the edge back on NaNo. For now, though, I’ll stick with my Bokken sword.  Speaking of which… I do believe it’s time to do battle!

    I can’t be the only person who does this. Fudge the start date, I mean. How about you? Do you usually finish your NaNoWriMo projects?

  • The NaNoWriMo Debate: Are You “For” or “Against” It?

    The NaNoWriMo Debate: Are You “For” or “Against” It?

     

    The Debate Rages On: Is NaNoWriMo a good thing or not? 

    Emotions run high when this question is asked.  Poster for National Novel Writing MonthI mean, folks get seriously heated.  Fans of NaNoWriMo start heating the tar and gathering the feathers whenever someone suggests that maybe NaNoWriMo isn’t the best thing ever.  Critics of NaNoWriMo sharpen their pen nibs in preparation to eviscerate the works produced by anyone during the event.  It’s a little crazy, to be honest.

    NaNoWriMo Explained

    Okay, let’s pause for a moment.  If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, let me explain.  No, there’s too much.  Let me sum up.  The acronym (which I’m too lazy to type yet again because of the annoy placement of capital letters) stands for National Novel Writing Month.  Folks can go to the website, create an account, announce a novel project, and then attempt to write 50,000 words of material in a single month.  That averages out to 1,667 words a day.  I won’t bore you with the history of how this international phenomenon got started.  For that story, click here.

    For or Against?

    I am FOR!

    With some qualifications.

    Poster advertising National Novel Writing MonthI agree with many others that NaNoWriMo is not a good fit for everyone.  Justin Brouckaert articulated my feelings pretty well in his guest post on the Submittable blog titled A Case Against NaNoWriMo.  Despite what the declarative title suggests, Justin is not vehemently anti-NaNo.  He just wrote a horrible piece of trash (I’m paraphrasing him) in NaNo and thought he was going to go nuts from the pressure.   

    Different people have different writing processes. 

    Some folks absolutely adore extrinsic motivators, which is pretty much exactly what NaNo is.  Other folks fold like a wet napkin in a high wind at the first sign of pressure. 

    Some writers thrive on establishing a rock-solid daily writing habit.  I like to write every day, no matter what.  (Not that I always get to do things the way I want to.  See my earlier post about my kids for more details on that front.)  Other people tend to write best when they produce work in a more accordion style, with long stretches of empty pages followed by rapid bursts of prolific words.

    Some folks are communal writers.  They love talking shop with other writers, joining up at coffee shops or in library meeting rooms to sit and write together, posting updates on all the social media platforms.  Hooray for the global connectedness that is the internet!  Other writers, though, are solitary people (when they’re creating, at least) and find the whole social, communal aspect of NaNoWriMo repellant.

    NaNoWriMo Participant Badge

    My Own Experience With NaNoWriMo

    All I can say is this: for me, there are more positives than negatives in participating. 

    For starters, participating in my very first NaNoWriMo taught me that I have the capacity for self-discipline needed to write an entire novel. 

    Also, the stamina.  I mean, people!  Writing a novel is like running a marathon.  That might be too gentle an analogy.  It’s like taking part in an Ironman competition.  I went into that first NaNoWriMo all, “Yeah!  I’m going to write a whole novel in just one month!”  Well, that’s not what happened.  I did “win” the event by writing 50,000 words in the month of November, but I was startled to discover that my book was far from finished.  I continued writing (every day, thanks to the habit I’d cultivated during November) and proudly finished up my book in March of that year.  It topped off at just over 96,000 words.  

    It was a disgusting beast of a first draft.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say it was a horrible piece of trash.  But it existed.  I’d done it.  I’d written a full draft of a novel.  If nothing else, I now knew that I had the sheer stamina necessary to write a book.  I tucked that draft away in the bottom drawer of my writing desk, where I shall probably keep it until my dying day.

    See, I think of NaNoWriMo not as a chance to pen a masterpiece, but as an opportunity to simply practice the art of writing.  It inspires me.  It excites me.  Heck, it bolstered my confidence enough join the North Shore Writer’s Group to apply to the MFA in Creative Writing program at Lesley University.  NaNoWriMo exposed me to new people and new ways of thinking and new opportunities.

    So, yes, I think NaNoWriMo is a positive force for creativity, despite what some might say.

    What do you think about NaNoWriMo?  Have you participated?  Will you again?  Why or why not?