November is National Novel Writing Month.That means that people all over the world are going to try to produce the first draft of their novel in one month. That equals roughly 1,667 words a day. Me? I try most years. Fail every time. Why? Because I get behind, darn it all. It’s HARD to write 1,667 words (or more) a day. My creativity isn’t always there. If I don’t feel like writing, I don’t do it.
NaNoWriMo is supposed to help writers remain focused and motivated. So my question to you is: have you ever tried NaNoWriMo? Would you do it (either try it for the first time or do it again)? Why or why not? I want to hear your experiences.
*If you want more information or wish to sign up, click on this link: http://nanowrimo.org/ Be my buddy, if you like. (Under the name KWehner)
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Perhaps it’s my secret inner rebel or just my nerdy nature, but I’ve taken to tracking my daily word output for each of my last three books – without joining something like NaNo. I started without a goal – I just wanted to know what I was doing. As I realized it was paltry, I set a goal of 800 words and later bumped it to 1,000. For me it was like having a mini-deadline and the pressure helped spark some creativity. The other thing it helped me do was avoid editing while I write. Few things stymie my creativity more than seeking perfection. As I said, I’ve never done NaNoWriMo, but I’ve obviously borrowed the mantra.
That’s fantastic! You’re right…it’s best to write without editing along the way. Just let the words come out free-flowing, fix sentence structure, grammar errors, etc. later. 800 words a day is a great goal, by the way.
I should also specify that I only count my words while working on a book project. I doubt I could write 800 or 1,000 a day ad infinitum. It really helped me with the third Misaligned book – although some of the words didn’t come until very late in the day. As I wrap up that project with my publisher, I’ll start working on a new book, which coincidentally will probably be around 1 November.
Yay! Maybe you should join up and keep me motivated. 😉
Bravo, Armenpogharian. I tried Nanowrimo last year. It was a powerful motivator at first, and then I found it frustrating. I may just try again this year–to at least get something started. The thing is, I have several stories (short and a novel) that I really want to re-work first. Okay, maybe I’ll make those jobs a goal for the rest of October. Thanks, Kim, for the impetus.
Yes, frustrating! Because sometimes it’s hard to think up what should happen next…I sometimes spend days trying to figure that out! But NaNoWriMo has one of those deadline thingies, so I often end up writing something that gets deleted later on. Ugh.
I’d like to try it, same as every other year. Since I haven’t done it yet I clearly have a problem with procrastination. That doesn’t bode well for me sticking to a project like NaNoWriMo and yet I would still be willing to try it. I think one of the problems is that November always comes in the fall, darn! I am involved with teaching at MCC in the fall.
But Armenpogharian has inspired me to set my own achievable word goal. If I only do even 500 words a day it’s more than I have been doing and there is no penalty for writing more that your own quota, right?. There’s no penalty for writing less either, So what have you got to lose?
I also think I’ll just aim for doing it from the 1st to the 15th, Conference Day! I am usually motivated after a conference and that should help me to finish the out the month.
I checked out the NaNoWriMo website and found a slightly more flexible section called Camp NaNoWriMo that I am now really considering trying.
Oops wait, the voice in my head is sending a message. Wisdom from the little green man. it’ saying,
“Do or do not. There is no try.” Yoda
Very true! Yoda was wise for a little fictional puppet-creature. And I agree, just sticking to a writing schedule at all is a personal success for many of us. Good comment, Jean.
I guess I should feel honored that anything I did motivated someone else to be creative…I mean besides jokes at my expense.