Ruminations on Nat'l Novel Writing Month

[aamcnamara]

So I decided to do NaNoWriMo this year. It's a tradition, I've done it the past three years; I may or may not continue doing it when I go to college, but it feels like some sort of closure to do NaNo this time.

I planned my novel last night, because I had nowhere to go on Halloween, and planning novels is better than sitting around feeling sorry for oneself. As I was flippantly explaining to people at the NaNo kickoff party on Thursday, usually I come up with some big elaborate plan which I summarily abandon two days before November starts, so this time I decided to save energy and just not come up with the elaborate plan in the first place.

Got up this morning, wrote for an hour and forty minutes, and emerged victorious, having hit wordcount for the day. Later I'll see if I can double that, for a little bit of padding.

One of the things I think I need to do for myself, as a novelist, is figure out how to shoot this starter gun for myself. After all, it's not like I take part in the NaNo community that much; usually I just do my own thing. Yet something about the definite starting date, or the deadline, or something, makes me sit down and write.

In the meantime, sometimes doing NaNo feels like a copout. But it's a fun copout, and that's really all that matters. Having fun, and writing.

Comments

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling similarly about much of this! I've only done it in college, but this is my senior year and my fourth year of nano. I agree that it's about having fun, and writing, also. My theory is that anyone is a winner of nano if they have stretched themselves as a writer, and tried. This year I'm not really writing a novel? Instead I'm writing background stories for the more Serious Project that I've been accidentally working on since July. Yay!

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

That works! Mine is a novel novel, but I think it needs to be closer to 100k to be finished, and I'm not sure if I will make that in the month. If I don't, hopefully I will retain enough momentum to finish the draft.

[aliseadae]

Mm. I think I'm going to try to write some everyday instead of specifically write a novel.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

That works. Hooray, writing!