For those of you who haven't heard me ranting about it for years, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has become an annual ritual for me and thousands of others, wherein we commit ourselves to writing 50,000 words of fiction in the month of November.
No, you read that right. 50K in 30 days. It is sweet mayhem.
I've attempted for years, and succeeded a handful times. I even served as a Municipal Liaison for the event when I lived in Galway, calling local writers to arms with pep talks and group writing sessions, and throwing prizes at them when they did well. CampNaNoWriMo is the quaintly-themed summer version of NaNo, a sort of "NaNo lite," which lets you tailor your word goal and join other writers in a socially-supportive network.
Over the years I've learned a lot about what makes this marathon approach to writing work for some and not others. It's thrilling to participate in, but the premise isn't fail-safe. Just because a digital widget tracks your word count and those of your friends, you are not guaranteed to "win" NaNo, achieving the esteemed 50K mark. I've failed more times than I've won, usually attempting to do it "right". Start from scratch. Write 1,667 words a day for a month. It's as tough as it sounds.
With a goal that big I often find myself flagging, mentally and physically. Running dry on ideas is defeating, and usually leads to my demise. But what's worse is being unable to dig myself out of a rut like that due to swollen hands and tingling arms attached to shoulders that grind audibly and a back in titanium knots. It sucks.
That's why this time I'm only aiming for 25,000, a reasonable 840 words a day. On a good day, that'll take less than an hour. I'm using the Pomodoro app to cut out distractions and build in rest/stretch breaks. I'm using the recumbent-bike-and-scratch-paper technique as an alternative to desk work when the going gets tough.
I'm also going in armed with a beginning and an outline. Gone are the days when I'll actually attempt to start with nothing and discovery write to the end. That approach, which some NaNoers swear by, has left me with a heap of bad, directionless prose more often than I can count.
By turning some of the NaNo rules on their heads I'm making the event serve my story, not the other way around. I think my expectations are reasonable. Today marks the first day of CampNaNoWriMo 2013, and how to do I feel? In the immortal words of the eHarmony cat girl, "I'm nervous, but I'm excited at the same time". Here, have a happy-making dose of internet meme with a generous helping of the Gregory Brothers.
Because you can't hug every cat.
No, you read that right. 50K in 30 days. It is sweet mayhem.
I've attempted for years, and succeeded a handful times. I even served as a Municipal Liaison for the event when I lived in Galway, calling local writers to arms with pep talks and group writing sessions, and throwing prizes at them when they did well. CampNaNoWriMo is the quaintly-themed summer version of NaNo, a sort of "NaNo lite," which lets you tailor your word goal and join other writers in a socially-supportive network.
Over the years I've learned a lot about what makes this marathon approach to writing work for some and not others. It's thrilling to participate in, but the premise isn't fail-safe. Just because a digital widget tracks your word count and those of your friends, you are not guaranteed to "win" NaNo, achieving the esteemed 50K mark. I've failed more times than I've won, usually attempting to do it "right". Start from scratch. Write 1,667 words a day for a month. It's as tough as it sounds.
With a goal that big I often find myself flagging, mentally and physically. Running dry on ideas is defeating, and usually leads to my demise. But what's worse is being unable to dig myself out of a rut like that due to swollen hands and tingling arms attached to shoulders that grind audibly and a back in titanium knots. It sucks.
That's why this time I'm only aiming for 25,000, a reasonable 840 words a day. On a good day, that'll take less than an hour. I'm using the Pomodoro app to cut out distractions and build in rest/stretch breaks. I'm using the recumbent-bike-and-scratch-paper technique as an alternative to desk work when the going gets tough.
I'm also going in armed with a beginning and an outline. Gone are the days when I'll actually attempt to start with nothing and discovery write to the end. That approach, which some NaNoers swear by, has left me with a heap of bad, directionless prose more often than I can count.
By turning some of the NaNo rules on their heads I'm making the event serve my story, not the other way around. I think my expectations are reasonable. Today marks the first day of CampNaNoWriMo 2013, and how to do I feel? In the immortal words of the eHarmony cat girl, "I'm nervous, but I'm excited at the same time". Here, have a happy-making dose of internet meme with a generous helping of the Gregory Brothers.
Because you can't hug every cat.
