This year, for the first time, I participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. The goal is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. This is a pretty short novel, but a darned good start.
I have been so caught up in the release and promotion of Lydia’s Story that I haven’t been doing much “real” writing lately. I have not been working on anything new. True — I have some unfinished pieces hiding away on my computer that I could resurrect and turn into something readable, but I had the urge to work on something new, something challenging.
So I am devoting the month of November to writing 50,000 words of my new project, which has the working title Magic Words. The title may have more to do with me typing the words than the actual words themselves!
I did a little basic arithmetic and figured out that to write 50,000 words in a month, I need to write 1,666 words per day. This is not out of reach. When I write a first draft, I write fast. I get the words down. And I do have a plan for this story. I know where I’m going. But since like most people, I have a lot going on in my life, I think this is what will happen: I will try to write 1,666 words each day, but most of the time, I won’t make it. Then every three or four days, I will have a marathon writing day when I will catch up with my goal. As of November 3, I have over 5,000 words.
Anyone else out there doing NaNoWriMo? What are your tricks for reaching your goal? And does the goal matter if it gets you writing?
Hi, in one sense it doesn’t matter if it gets you writing. But then I’ve started to worry about the quality of the writing -yes, I’m also doing NaNo -first timer! For me, quantity & speed are not necessarily important right now. I don’t think I could bare to write something any old way, simply to get to 50K words. All I can think of is the nightmare of editing -essentially redrafting the entire manuscript -heavily. So, I’ve decided to participate as part of my quest to settle down into a regular writing routine, which for me has still not happened after 2 years of writing. If I don’t make the word limit and get my badge I’m not going to worry -it will still have been worth it. All the best with yours.