Thoughts on NaNoWriMo

What is NaNoWriMo?

I found out about NaNoWriMo from different posts on Twitter. I became curious about whether or not it would work. Word count goals had never been something that worked for me, but it took me so long to write a book that I was willing to try something new.

NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit organization that gives writers a community, encouragement, trackers, and other recourses to help them write. It’s completely free to sign up. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and happens in November. The NaNoWriMo Challenge is a large undertaking and provides tons of resources a writer may need to write an entire book in one month including how to prep the month before. NaNoWriMo also has Camps in April and July so people don’t feel like they have to wait all year just to write one whole month.

After watching numerous videos and reading some articles on the NaNoWriMo site provided to members, I found out that there are many different goals that people can set. Goals mostly are set for wordcount, which most people like to aim for the 50,000 word mark. But goals can be set for a number of different things. They can be set for a specific time limit that a person wants to write in a day. Or they could count pages instead of words. Or if someone is editing, they could even count the amount of pages or chapters they want to edit in a day. There is even a page on NaNoWriMo that helps writers know how to set up these different goals.

But does this work?

For some people, it definitely seems to give them exactly what they need to complete that first draft. I have heard from countless people that taking the time to plan and plot the book first, then taking the time the next month to just focus on writing has really motivated them to get it done.

For me, not so much. I am unable to plan an entire book. The most I am able to plan out at a time is the next couple scenes. Before I start my book, I usually have 3 things ready: a main character, a scene, and a problem. These things help me slowly structure my story, and I usually let the characters dictate where the story goes from there.

However, I still believe that NaNoWriMo is an extremely helpful resource. This year I have participated in Camp NaNoWriMo in April and in July. I really enjoy being able to track my progress as I write. At first, I was extremely nervous about joining. I saw all these videos and articles of people saying that the Challenge was to write 50,000 words in one month.

That’s a lot of words. I knew that with my writing style and my day job taking up most of my day, I never would be able to get close to 50,000.

Use It The Way You Want

I watched a video where someone showed the audience how they use NaNoWriMo and how it helps. I joined NaNoWriMo just before Camp started in April and was able to set a super low goal of 15,000 words. I wasn’t able to complete it, but they give you metals and badges along the way that really made me feel like I was accomplishing something.

I joined the Camp in July, aiming my sights higher. I set my goal for 30,000 words. It would get me so close to finishing book 3 in the Perfidious Trilogy. I took a week before July 1st to read the beginning of my manuscript and get together a writing journal, using different things from different people and resources outside of NaNoWriMo.

Today is July 13th and I am already over 10,000 words. A third of the way there and I have already received 8 badges. Its a lot of hard work, but its so nice to be able to see my progress and be able to update it as I go.