Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Why I Do National Novel Writing Month




Since it's the first day of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I thought I'd write a post on why I participate in it. There are a lot of people who don't really like NaNoWriMo because they don't do well with word count goals, or don't do well with deadlines, or they don't think they can write well enough, etc. The list goes on.

I love NaNoWriMo. I love the pace, I love the community, and I've learned to make the most of it. 2016 marks my 13th year participating in NaNoWriMo and I found that over the years, it has become too easy to reach the 50k mark before the end of November, in some cases, before the end of the first week. I've come up with ways to change the challenge to have it suit me more than anything.

Over the years, I've discovered that I could use NaNoWriMo to my advantage.
  • Complete a Lot of Novels. It's one way to get things done. I managed to finish a trilogy, a stand alone and a 5 novella series all in November because I had time to do so. 
  • Issue Bigger Challenges. 50k have become too easy. So I've decided to issue bigger challenges to myself. It can be just to finish a novel or to finish a series of novels or even extend my word count goal. In 2014, I managed to reach over 300k because that was my goal.
  • Meeting New Writers. It's fun meeting other writers and NaNoWriMo has a wonderful community of writers. It's fun to talk to them and make a new writing buddy.
  • Finding New Resources. With NaNoWriMo I can find new resources for my writing. Map making sites, graphics sites, etcs. There are a ton of them that other people share on the forums
Writing a good novel in a short amount of time definitely had to be because of NaNoWriMo. It took time but I'm finally able to write a full novel in 3 days. I might need a lot of work but it was still done. No rewrites needed, just some revision. Since I've been issuing my own challenges, I now have a stack of novels that I need to edit and possibly publish - even completed series.

Now, NaNoWriMo isn't for everyone but if you are finding that you hare having a hard time getting that first draft written, it's a good challenge. Also, don't be afraid to fail. It happens. You'll be surprised at how much you can actually accomplish in a month after you've set a goal. Just give it a try.

If you haven't heard of NaNoWriMo or just want to check it out: Click Here.

If you want to find my account: Click Here.