This month is National Novel
Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo! While NaNoWriMo is not for everyone, the novel-writing
challenge is a terrific time to get organized and do some serious puking. When I say puking, I mean words, plot, and character
exploration. The whole point of NaNoWriMo
is to stop the excuses and write. Even if you don’t have the plot or characters
figured out just yet, go ahead and start writing. As the brilliant Margaret Atwood said, ~ the best way to learn how to write fiction is
to write fiction. ~ Truer words have never spoken.
I am participating in
NaNoWriMo this year. My current project is entitled Stupid Car, and I’m at 6,608
words (as of 11/11/19). According to the
NaNoWriMo site, I will be finished on Jan 22nd, 2020! Yes, I’m a
little behind, but I plan on making up the difference and hitting my 50K goal on
November 30th as planned.
Of course, I may need to cancel Thanksgiving, but hey, it is
just-food. The kids won’t care. (NOT!) Which brings me to my next point. There
are two schools of thought when it comes to this event. Yes, it forces participants
to hold themselves accountable and publicly expose their awesomeness or
lacking. The NaNoWriMo Challenge can be cathartic and eye-opening. Writers tend to get on board, get in their
word counts, or give up. The other line of thought is every month should be
treated like NaNoWriMo, and only amateurs participate. Not true (case in
point).
My opinion, as irrelevant as it may be, is we all need a mix
of both-- a swirling latte double-shot of both ideas. NaNoWriMo can be a
jumpstart to a new project, the umph we need to go headlong, push through the
defense and head for the endzone. No matter what. To prove to ourselves, we can
do it. What we do with that information is the important part. Something I always
tell my kids is I can only ask them to do their best. Whatever happens,
whatever grade they get, whatever goal they do or do not meet, it is a learning
experience, and to grow, we need to take the knowledge, put it in our pocket, adjust
and move forward.
One of the wonderful things about NaNoWriMo is the tools
available on the site. Like tracking when you are most productive. When are you
at your writing best or worst? Do you write better freehand or on your laptop? Can
you rearrange your schedule to push out those extra thousand or even
two-thousand words a day if you need to?
All that said, I’m in it for the experience and the personal
challenge? Can I do it? I wrote a 10K novel in a weekend. Certainly, I can push
out a 50K novel in a month. Right?
If you choose to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, feel
free to send me a buddy request. I would love to see how you are progressing
and be your cheerleader! Here is my information. I will be updating my progress
every Monday!
Hope to see you there and good luck, Warriors!
I love to hear your feedback! Leave a comment and let me know what you think and if the post was helpful! If you want more information, or assistance shoot me an email at writingwarriorsunited@gmail.com or ping me on Twitter @AmyJRomine.
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