#NaNoWriMo. Will it be third time lucky?
In
2013, as part of my resolution challenge, I took part in my first NaNoWriMo
competition. NaNoWriMo, which stands for
National Novel Writing Month, is a writing challenge open to anyone, and it
entices entries from across the globe.
The task is to pen a 50,000-word novel in 30 days – no pressure!
The
50,000-word target works out to 1667 words per day, every day, for the thirty
days of November. Of course, when you
throw in work, family and lifestyle it isn’t always possible to squeeze in 1667
words. This is where dedication and dumb
pride come in.
When
I did NaNo for the first time, I announced it to the world via my blog. The reason for this was so I couldn’t back
out. It worked, and I hit the 50,000
point by the second week. I did the same
last year, hitting my target in the third week.
To
win this competition, you merely have to cross the word count finish line by
11.59pm on November 30th. You
receive a winner certificate (which I printed out and proudly displayed on my
fridge) and, probably more importantly, you have a first draft of a book.
My
debut young adult fantasy book, Guardians
of the Dead, started life as a NaNo draft.
It took me a year to edit, but one month to write. I wrote book two in the trilogy during last
year’s NaNo, and so it only seemed fitting to complete the series by writing
book three in 2015.
You
are allowed to pre-plan and get your story outline done in October, but
strictly no writing until November 1st. Having an outline of the story you wish to
write gives you a head start, and you can begin writing with a clear plan of
who your characters are and what they are going to do.
The
key to success is to turn off your inner editor and write, write and write some
more. It was so hard to stop myself from
going back over what I’d written and begin correcting grammar or sentence
structure. Time is of the essence, and
the red pen must wait until December.
When
do I write? I find it easier to write
first thing in the morning, and according to Book Baby 49% of participants
agree. 28% of NaNoers do write before
bed but when I tried this I found my head was crammed full of scenes and
dialogue, and I couldn’t sleep! Finding
the perfect time to fit into your schedule is vital to success. It may be on your lunch break, or you might
want to set the alarm a couple of hours early and write before the family wakes
up. We all have twenty-four hours in our
day, it’s what we do with them that count.
My
biggest distraction has to be the internet and my social media platforms, as a
writer I need to maintain a ‘voice’ so my readers can find me and hopefully
enjoy my blog posts and interact with me on Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram. The time can run away with
you and during November I have to be especially careful that I don’t eat away
at my writing time by surfing the net.
When Book Baby did a cross section of NaNo writers’ they discovered that
42% were also distracted by the internet, 21% couldn’t resist reading a novel
over writing, and 14% just couldn’t give up their television viewing.
For
me, NaNoWriMo is a gift to myself. A
dedicated month where I can turn down my friends and family’s invitations for coffee
without the guilt, a month of uninterrupted creativity, a month when my three
teenagers test drive their independence by cooking dinner, using the washing
machine and clean the house un-nagged.
They understand how much I love this competition and are always stood by
my side when I type the words and watch the word count tick over to
50,000. It becomes a family success, and
that’s priceless.
Will
I succeed this year? I don’t know. I’ve plotted the entire story; I know my
characters, and I’ve stocked up on Cadbury chocolate and coffee, so the rest is
down to me. If I want it enough then
I’ll make it happen, but life does have a way of taking over, and if this
happens I will just try again next year.
That’s the beauty of NaNoWriMo.
If
you are interested in finding out how I get on then, I will be publishing my
Diary of a NaNoer posts over on my author blog – http://www.shelleywilsonauthor.com every
week. Feel free to wave your pom poms
and offer words of encouragement in the comments. Parcels of chocolate will also be gratefully
received!
Good luck Shelley. Waving pompoms like mad here! You'll do it I'm sure xx
ReplyDeleteHa ha thanks, Sue :-)
DeleteCheering you on from the sidelines, Shelley. Go girl!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julia x
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