Wednesday, November 12, 2014

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo
This is my third year participating in NaNoWriMo*, and I've found it to be a good tool as long as that's all you use it as--a tool. My first year it was an obsession. I had to finish. I. Just. Had. To. And I did, and what I finished was a horrible novel that was unsalvageable, although I did spend several months trying. Last year I began anew, only that time I ruled NaNo; I didn't let it rule me. I wrote, yes, and I wrote more often, but I wrote words that mattered, words I could use. The result of that was Blackbird, probably my favorite of all my books. But even with that success I wasn't going to do NaNo this year. I was already 23,000 words into my current WIP, and didn't want to put it aside to start something else. After some thought I realized I didn't have to. All I needed was 50,000 words written in one month, right? So did it matter where I started? I figured it didn't, so start I did. My current work is at 38,000 (or 15,000 NaNo words), which puts me a little behind, but I don't care. I love it--and in the end that's all that matters.

Any one else out there participating in NaNo? What has your experience been?

*For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, NaNoWriMo stands for National November Writing Month where those craziest among us try to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. You can find out more at http://www.nanowrimo.org

8 comments:

  1. I have never and will never participate in NaNo, but I know some people love it. I'm nearing the end of a WIP and writing faster than I've ever written but only because my editor wants it yesterday. And that's a good feeling too.

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  2. I contemplated it, but this year I had so many unseen obstacles in my way I could not participate even if I wanted to. Good luck to you this month. I hope you meet all of your goals and expectations with NaNo- but like you said, the main thing is, YOU love doing it. And that's all that matters, in the end.

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  3. I'm not participating in NaNo, and I haven't in the past, but I want to try it out some time. Good luck with reaching your goal. I think you have the right idea about how to use NaNo.

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  4. It doesn't matter what you are working on, only the total number of words. Keep at it, Melanie!

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  5. It shouldn't matter where you start. That's wonderful that you are loving the words.

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  6. Yay! I'm going to add you as a buddy on NaNo. This is my first year participating in it. I'm behind in the daily word count, but I'm okay with that. I'm getting words down when I can, and I like the story so far. That makes it worth it! :)

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  7. I'm doing NaNo as well! It's my first year, but I'm liking it. I'm like you, behind on my word count, but I've decided that I'll be fine with wherever I end up as long as I make the effort to write every day. Today, I had grand plans of busting out a lot of writing, but found I really wasn't into it. So...I wound up with a slow day instead. All good. Like you said, if I would've pushed just to get the word count, then I probably would've ended up getting something that didn't work. Good luck to you and have a fun NaNo!

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  8. Every Nano so far I've learned a new skill and met the word count. I think winning Nano is about personal bests, and self discovery. The word count is almost incidental. :-)

    Anna from Shout with Emaginette

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