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.

My Genre of Choice

Genre
What’s your main genre? Why do you write in that genre? Do you have a tip to share for someone wanting to break into that genre? What genre would you like to break into?

Bonus: What is your favorite book written in your genre? (Written by you or another great writer!)

The main genre I write is Fantasy. I like going into different worlds that I've made and having my characters encounter some really strange things. I also like the freedom I can have with writing in this genre but there are also "rules" that one must follow. Things need to make some kind of sense. You can't just have something work without really knowing how it works. It kind of makes it complicated but I really like this part of it. Sometimes figuring out the mechanics to certain things can change the plot of your novel to something even better or it helps you get a better understand of what is supposed to happen.

My only tip is to know your world and don't allow it to bend to make it easier for your characters. Just because you have the power to do so, doesn't mean that you should. Always give your characters obstacles to face, even smaller ones, because it helps with character development.

I've read a lot of books in this genre but my absolute favorite is almost anything written by Tamora Pierce (almost - some of her books are good but just don't catch my attention). I never have issues going back and rereading her work. Also, Harry Potter is a good book that I can always go back and reread. To be honest, that is how I judge a book. If I have the ability to go back and reread it without pointing out flaws from both the writing and the characters, then it's a good book.

Keeping Up with 750 words

This week was a bit tricky. My work hours make it a bit harder for me to fit in my writing time and with my class starting on Monday, it's going to make it even harder. 750 words a day becomes hard. Though I managed to keep up with it on top of the things I had to do for work.

I can't say how many words I wrote for this week, but as of right now my monthly total stands at 30,121 words. With editing, I clocked in my 10 hours for the month. Now, I'm going to prepare to work on it in February. I need to print everything out.

As far as reading goes, I'm not doing too well in that department. The book I picked isn't really holding my interest which isn't good. I'm going to push myself through it to see how it goes.
There is a whole list of books I want to read this year and I'm stuck on the first one.

Overall, it was a pretty good week.

January Goals

The beginning of the year is going to be harder to start off than my normal years. With my classes starting mid-January, I need to try to get ahead of the game before then but if I don't manage to finish, I still have the rest of the year. Because 2016, I'm taking it a bit slower than I usually do.

Here are my writing/editing/reading/etc goals for January:

• Write book #1 (no real title yet)
• Edit 10 hours in District Pluto
• Read 1 book
• Blog once a week

It's simple enough right. That's just my goals for writing. I have personal, work, and school goals that are not added to the list. For now, I'm keeping my blog strictly writing related until later in the year. Smaller lists help me stay focused. I won't feel so overwhelmed with all the things I need to do.

We'll see if it helps at all.