In the Shadow of NanoWriMo

I've considered participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) many times within the past few years. The "rules" indicate that you shouldn't start NaNoWriMo with a partially started or completed project, but rather with a bare outline or nothing at all. I had been languishing with a novel I started in 1999 and rather than setting it aside and moving on, I kept pushing and pulling it, trying to make it "work". Because I'm a rule follower, I kept dismissing NaNo until "next year."

2010 was different. I had indeed set my languishing project aside, and worse, since my husband's cancer diagnosis, subsequent surgery and treatment, I hadn't been writing much at all. I couldn't get my arms around any kind of project--which is pretty understandable. A writer friend of mine mentioned in passing that she had begun writing a young adult paranormal book as an escape from her medical school studies. I later read the work and I found it astoundingly good! Meanwhile I was still trying to figure out something to write about, but life and work took my attention and I settled for writing in my journal.

Her words kept echoing in my head as I contemplated some ideas, and I was intrigued by the genre she was pursuing, yet the ideas didn't ignite. As my husband began chemotherapy I decided NaNoWriMo was the perfect productive distraction to occupy my mind and give me an escape of my own. I had planned on writing a novel based on a TV pilot I'd written for Scriptapalooza TV a couple of years prior, but as the November 1 start date loomed closer, the "rule follower" in me changed my mind and began with absolutely no concept all. The muse kicked in and I just started writing scene by scene rather than thinking about the project as a whole. The idea of writing just for fun--rather than for a result--sounded wonderful. And it was! It reminded me it was the very reason I started writing in the first place back when I was thirteen.

In addition to a brand new idea, I decided to add some challenge to the fun in order to explore myself as a writer. Most of my previous works had all been told in first person. It's a voice and point of view that is easy for me and I think I'm pretty decent at. So I decided

• to write in third person
• to not write chronologically, but rather jump around, writing scenes that were interesting to me (the point being to end up with no scenes that are boring or pointless)
• Don't title it until after the first draft is done!
• to not worry what the book was about (in true NaNo fashion)
• to tell people I was doing it--partly to overcome my "writing is private" sensibility and partly to help hold me accountable for finishing

November 30 came and went without yours truly completing the 50k word goal; rather it left me shrugging, scratching my head, and ultimately beating myself up for not making it more of a priority and eking out time each and every day no matter what was going on and no matter how many hours of sleep it deprived me of. I ended November at the halfway point. I'm still committed to the novel I started and not doing anything that would distract me from it like starting a blog or anything. Oh, wait. Anyway, with the holidays (holidays) approaching and bringing in-laws with them, I don't see how I can complete it by end of December, but at least I'm not making up excuses are anything. These excuses are real!

I am working to complete my first draft of "NaNoWriMo Novel" a title I'm happy with for now at steady pace of as many as 1k words per day (or night) as possible. I think most writers struggle once they're so far in they can't see the way back or the way forward, but it's still exciting to me when I sit down, clear my mind of daily clutter, and try to focus, mostly because of the rules I established above. Even though I didn't "win" NaNoWriMo, the reminder of writing for fun was prize enough.

Writers are writers because they write, right?