In 2022 I tried NaNoWriMo for the first time. Here’s where I make everyone else feel good about themselves: I only got to 6,460 of a 50,000 word goal. In retrospect, for someone that was still trying to establish a writing habit that includes more than text messages and emails every day, 50,000 words is a lofty goal, stratospheric even.
But I got excited about focusing on writing for a month with a few local friends and a like minded community across the world, and signed up in a moment of optimistic enthusiasm. My math brain calculated that 1667 words a day would keep me on track to get to 50,000 words in a month. Writing a couple of pages a day for 30 days doesn’t seem like it’s insurmountable when you look at it in the middle of October. In retrospect, I can see why there are so many prompts and posts on the NaNoWriMo website to create a framework ahead of time from which to work. I quickly discovered that the project I had chosen to work on wasn’t as well developed as I thought. There remained too many fuzzy bumps in the road between the half formed ideas in my head and the fully developed ideas and paragraphs that needed to manifest on the page. And no amount of pulling on the threads to get them to untangle and then knit themselves together into something recognizable seemed to work.
At the start of the month I did show up daily intending to write. I tried to get myself into the mindset of writing what comes to me as I sit at the computer. “Just write without worrying about quality!” NaNoWriMo proclaims. “You can always go back and edit later.” That’s an adjustment my brain has yet to make: writing without editing along the way. My eyes see something one line up that I want to change and I have to go back. My brain yearns to fix things as it recognizes them because it’s certain to forget it after another line or two of text.
With my word count failing to keep pace with the handy personalized graph on the website, my frustration building with my chosen project, and a busier than expected November I became overwhelmed by what I couldn’t do, and gave it up halfway through the month.
So why am I signing up for NaNoWriMo again this year? You would think one failed attempt would be enough to convince me that it’s not something that works for me. But I’ve learned some things in the intervening year, and I still have that optimistic enthusiasm from last year. This year, my goal is to make NaNoWriMo another tool to help me in my quest to cement a writing habit into the foundations of my daily life.
Did I spend October outlining a project for this year’s attempt? No. But I have spent October in a similar attempt at daily writing. Over the past month I’ve tried “just writing” as part of the Daily Pages for The Artist’s Way. I soon got sick of myself because when I “just write” it seems I just want to catalog all my grievances. Which can be good, and cathartic, but it doesn’t make me feel any fondness for what I’ve written. So instead I’m going to make November a month to write daily in a more structured form.
I’ll keep working on the skill of continuing to type, even if it’s not the exact sentence I envisioned, or if I see something that I think I could improve. Even if I do forget the edit of the moment, the edits I make a day or two later can be even better. And I’m going to use the month of community connected writing to help build my daily writing practice. I do have some projects lined up, just not one large one to work on exclusively. I know NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, but I’m going a little off script this year. Instead of hitting 50,000 words, my goal is to hit 30 days of writing.
It can be fun to jump into something, even if you fail at it. Writing is a great place to try things out – and with writing on a computer the only resource that you expend is your time. And I would argue that you aren’t wasting that time, even if you fail at what you’re attempting. I still wrote over 6000 words last year. I learned things about myself. And while I didn’t spend the year focused on better preparation for this year’s NaNoWriMo, I find myself prepared to fail better this November.
Are you going to write with NaNoWriMo this year? What goals are you aiming for?
It will be NaNoEditMo for me, looking forward to it!
I hadn’t thought about doing this as a background for my writing, but I do have a proposed book I could work on for the month. Hmm. Maybe I should sign up?
You should, Jean! Worse case scenario you write a few extra paragraphs as a result!
I didn’t realize I could sign up for it. 😁On my way.
Heck yeah, Veronica!
I’m in. Morning pages went by the wayside as I worked toward a website and blog. The artist’s dates have been wonderful and a source of content. What gets me going, though, is writing pieces of the novel that want out and that I have been holding prisoner. I will be focusing on character development.
Good for you, Marjorie! I often tackle scenes as they come to me rather than try to go in order. I’m glad to hear your artist’s dates have been productive!
Yay! I’m so glad to have a group of rogue NaNoWriMo-ers to do this with! I love the NaNoEditMo Jessi! Let those characters out of their cages Marjorie! And Jean and Veronica I’m so glad you’ll be there too! I had better go sign myself up officially!
So, how are you doing so far? I think having a goal of just writing everyday is the best.