Monday, October 17, 2011

NaNo Seconds

Participant2_180_180_whiteI took part in NaNo last year. For those of you unfamiliar, that’s National Novel Writing Month. It’s an event that encourages people to write an entire novel in a month. November, specifically. As I said, I participated last year. Didn’t finish, sadly. I had been looking forward to it this year, the plan being to get every bit of preliminary out of the way around summer and let the story gestate through early fall, so when November came around, my novel would hit the ground running.

Not only did none of that happen, but I’ve been wondering if a writing career is still the path I want to follow. Despite that, I’ve decided I’m still going to take part this year. I love the process, especially the early stages of creation. Of creating characters so bold and vivid that eventually they tell you what to do.

I think it would be good for me: a specific goal, and a deadline so tight I have to focus most of my attention on it. Also, I’ll know going in that failure is an option, at least by NaNo’s measure of success. The process is what’s important; victory is not a word count, but a reawakening of my passion for putting the world that exists only inside my head into those strange, jagged patterns called words.

So I’m jumping in, and if the water’s too cold, I’ll jump back out. Most of all, though, there’s no pressure. What I get done, I get done. And as we all know, it’s never about quantity; it’s about quality.

So wish me luck, and...um…got any ideas?

17 comments:

  1. LOL. Good luck! I'm not one of those 'idea' people so I hold on to mine with dear life! :o)

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  2. Good luck! Mmmm. I get entirely too competitive in Nano so I have no ideas that are, shall we say, suitable ;) Just having fun with it helps I think.

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  3. Good luck with nano. It sounds pretty hard.

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  4. I love doing Nano. I suppose it's because I work best under deadlines.
    I wish you well on your nano-journey.

    Also, I LOVE the movie Best In Show. :)

    Have a marvelous week,
    Lola

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  5. Good luck with your second attempt. I found that you just have to let go and push through just about anything. Like all kind of plot holes, etc.

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  6. Good luck! NaNo can be a great motivator. Don't forget to have fun too. :)

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  7. Good luck! That's the beauty of NaNo--there's no pressure, but it does help with motivation.

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  8. Good luck with NaNo! I did my own write-a-book-in-a-month in June, and it's such a great motivator. It ended up taking me a bit longer (7 weeks, not 4) to finish, but I still finished.

    You can do it! I hope you have fun.

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  9. I'm trying to plot in a hurry... I was so ahead on NaNo two months ago. I swear, I'm owed a refund on some days that were extra-short. Good luck!

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  10. Good luck! And friend me over there, because I'm going to be NaNo-ing too! I think the best thing to cure writer's doubts (which sounds like you might be struggling with) is the actual writing itself. So you're doing just the right thing!
    :)

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  11. I've always wanted to try NaNo but I've never yet had the time and won't this year either - though I could do with a big push to write a book in one month right now... so it's tempting! Good luck! I'd offer up ideas but I've run dry! :-(

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  12. I'm participating in NaNo, and so far meeting the writing goals - but it's only the 3rd!

    I'd advise that you write something every day. Don't worry about hitting 50K by November 30 - that's not necessarily the end of your novel, anyway.

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  13. Thanks for the follow on Twitter, Dan. I stopped by to follow your blog as well.

    Nice to meet you!

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  14. Nicely organized blog.

    NEW FOLLOWER

    Elizabeth

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

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  15. So, how's it going with NaNo? :) Hang in there!

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  16. share words of motivation
    Learn from those above you. Enjoy life with them at your side. Do not underestimate those below you.
    may be received, and I wait for a visit behind ya: D

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