I discovered National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo or NaNo) two years ago through a niece’s Facebook post. Write a novel in a month? Seriously? Of course I immediately went to the NaNo site (www.nanowrimo.org) to learn more. They had me at the Viking helmet. My fan fiction pen name is RedHeadedViking so obviously NaNo and I were meant to be together. I’m a complete pantser, so it didn’t matter that I discovered this wonderful madness less than a month before it started.
NaNo is the perfect opportunity for me to bind and gag my irritating inner perfectionist/editor and just write for one glorious month. I can move commas around ad nauseam later. My first NaNo novel became the skeleton of what is now Assassin’s Heart – my debut novel. (It will be published in November.) Last year’s NaNo gave me a good start on a humorous paranormal romance entitled Dial V for Vampire. I was very proud to claim “winner” status both years by surpassing the 50K word count goal for the month.
NaNo 2013 is lurking just around the corner and I’m just not excited. At all. I really like my story idea for Virtually Yours and I want to see it come to life. So what’s the problem? I think I’m bummed because I know that I won’t “win” this year. Publishing Assassin’s Heart is my top priority so I’m limiting myself to working on a short story. Somehow knowing that I won’t pass the 50K goal has taken away the thrill.
I keep telling myself that NaNo isn’t about winning – it’s about getting words on paper (or electrons as the case may be). I’m not listening. I’m an extremely competitive person so “winning” is a big deal to me. As a matter of fact, I almost didn’t sign up this year – simply because I won’t be able to win. However, some friends convinced me to give it a shot any way. I’m hoping that I will learn some sort of important life lesson from competing without a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning. I’ll post an update in December and let you know how it goes.
Do you NaNo? If so, how important is winning to you? Let me know in the comments.
This is my first year and, like you, I stumbled across nanowrimo by chance (four days ago). I’m not sure how I feel about winning, the chance of achieving 50,000 words with my other commitments seems pretty slim. Still, I’m always up for a challenge and there’s not much more I enjoy doing so I’m going to give it my best shot. I only know one thing, I should have planned a little…but then that’s me – last minute girl!
Welcome to the wonderful world of NaNo! I actually think that NaNo is fun – interspersed with occasional bouts of “I must be crazy.” Good luck and thanks for stopping by! (I’m RedHeadedViking in NaNo land. Feel free to add me as a writing buddy.)
Thanks – I’ll do that
I know exactly how you feel! Crossing the finish line feels great, but….I don’t like to finish November with a big mess on my hands. I don’t know if I’ll hit 50K this year or not. I’m just shooting for a decent first draft…or a decent half of a first draft! I know some Nanoers who are using it to edit 50K words. I’d be excited about completing a full edit in a month! If you’re editing Assassin’s Heart, that might be an option?
For me, I think attending some of the write-ins and events gives me that spark of excitement no matter what my goals are for the month. good luck! I’ll see you there!
I used Camp NaNo in July to do the major edits on Assassin’s Heart; I’ll be finished with the minor ones by the end of the week otherwise I would definitely use NaNo for edits.
Like you, I’m hoping to finish the month with a decent rough draft of my (short) story. I’m actually starting to feel a little excitement about getting started. I’m definitely going to attend some of the write-ins and meetups. I love my local NaNo group! Thanks for commenting. We’ll cheer each other to the finish line!
This is my 3rd year of signing up for NaNoWriMo; this will be my first year of actually progressing beyond day 3 and not being consumed by my regular day job. I’m taking my inspiration from my fabulous aunt — who has shown me, once again, that you can do anything you set your mind to do.
Congratulations! You’re so sweet. I wouldn’t be where I am now if I hadn’t learned about NaNo from you. I’ve learned that when it comes to making your dreams come true sheer hard-headedness goes a long way!
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in NaNo land.
Hi Isabella,
Just added you as a NaNo buddy. I have tried NaNo once before and quickly got swamped by getting behind and paying too much attention to my vicious internal editor. (Your comment about moving commas around made me laugh – I HATE commas!) I’m going to give it a try again this year, but I have such a fear of failure that I’ll probably shoot myself in the foot by constantly angsting about writing crap. Maybe I need a sign for my internal critic that says, “La-la-la I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Good luck and hopefully see you around…
Hi Tracey! I just added you back. I’ve learned that a lot of what seems like crap during the heat of NaNo really isn’t. You just have to take a break from it for a while and then look at your story with fresh eyes. Hmmm. Maybe we can come up with some sort of Walking Dead themed poster and substitute commas for the walkers.
Or every time I write a scene without faffing about with commas/passive voice/telling etc I get to kill a virtual zombie? Or stare at Daryl montage of photos for 10 minutes, no, wait, that’d end up taking hours…
See? You’re catching on!
Darn smart phone – I wasn’t finished with my reply! Any way, thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in NaNo land.
Hi Isabella,
This will be my first year doing Nano, and yes, it’s important for me to finish. I too am very competitive. Approximately how many words do you believe your short story will be? Would it be crazy to expand upon it, discovery new things about your characters during the 50,000 word challenge, and then edit it back afterwards?
Hi Diana! I’m really not sure how long my short story will be – probably no more than 20k at the most. I may play around with expanding it if I have time. It all depends on how much time I have to devote to getting Assassin’s Heart published. (I really wanted to have it published before November but September was a bust as far as writing goes. I’m still playing catch up.) Thanks for stopping by and good luck with your first NaNo!