It’s coming up. Right around the corner, in fact. I’ve never participated. Have any of you?
For those who are new to NaNoWriMo, on November 1st of every year begins a free writing program/contest/challenge where you commit to writing a 175-page, 50,000 word book by midnight, November 30th. I’m big on 30 day challenges, as you all know. November 30 is my birthday, as some of you know. And, for the last few years I felt that a book would be a neat thing to give myself as a birthday present.
I’ve opted out of doing it the last three years because I haven’t been able to think of anything to write about. No plot, no characters, no intrigue, no story. This year, however…is the same.
I’ve got nothing.
But, I have it on good authority that this should not deter me. When I found out last year that Jenny B. Jones occasionally stops by the casa de pancakes, I immediately shook her down for secrets.
She said write everyday.
I said I have nothing to write about.
She said that didn’t matter.
I said, au contraire, mon fr�re. (Yes, I know it’s the masculine form. Jenny can take it.)
She said, no, really. It all kind of works out in the end. Also, no excuses.
Sigh.
So, I’m thinking about doing NaNoWriMo. Thinking about it! I’m trying to be funny and pretend like I don’t care, but the fact I have ZERO to write about really makes me nervous and, try as I might, my personality makes it difficult for me to let it all work out. Can you imagine? I’ll end NaNoWriMo and it will be 175 pages of All work and no play makes Jules a dull girl.
Eek! I’m the same way … every year I think about it, but I just can’t bring myself to give it a try. And yet I always complain that I haven’t the time to work on my own stuff.
So, I’ll do it if you do it … no, wait … I don’t know …
Wow that sounds like such a fantastic challenge. Definitely scary but just imagine how amazing you will feel when you are done. Who cares if the book doesn’t flow. Who cares if it doesn’t make the bestseller list. You will feel amazing!
DO IT!!! (That’s easy for me to say when I really I have all those same thoughts & fears running through my head….) But I do think it sounds like a great & rewarding challenge!
fortune cookie says: pessimists are more often right – optimists are more often successful
What are you waiting for? What is the worst case scenario? What an example to set for your children :)
My excuse is: I Don’t Do Fiction. I read it, but I’m no good at writing it. Right? But honestly, I’ve never really given it a shot. Hmmmm… You have planted a seed, Jules. Now I’M thinking about it!
I’ve done this with my students for years now – by the time our 8th graders graduate they’ve usually written two or three novels and a couple of full-length scripts (see: Script Frenzy, the April companion to NaNoWriMo). Occasionally I’ve tried to keep up with my girls, but they far outpace me. They lack the fears that inhibit adults. It’s amazing to see.
The fact that I’ve never actually finished a NaNoWriMo aside, I say you should totally do it, Jules! Watching my 8th graders lets me know that it’s doable. They all start out saying “I don’t know what to write about,” and before you know it they’re adding characters right and left and the characters start walking and talking and they’ve got 50,000 words.
Check out “No Plot, No Problem,” Chris Baty’s NaNoWriMo guide. It is inspirational, and it will get you going! You might also look at the Young Writers section of the NaNoWriMo website. The curriculum they provide for high schools might actually be useful in getting your writing started.
Good luck! I hope you do this!
(Notice that I’m not saying “I can’t wait to read your novel” because that’s not the point of NaNoWriMo. The point of NaNoWriMo is simply to write.)
Those are all great tips! I will definitely look into the guides. You know me, I’m all about directions. Are they on the site, or is this something I have to buy?
On the site and free! Let me know if you have any trouble accessing them and I’ll send you the pdfs I dowloaded years ago.
I tried last year and gave up after a few days. Going to try again this year, though!
I’m thinking of doing this years Nanowrimo too. I’ve known about it for years but never felt I had time & a story to write but this year I have both. Well, my story is a tiny grain & that’s ok because one of the rules is not to have too much figured out befor nov.
If you want another blog based challenge there is National Blog Posting Month (nablopomo.com). It originally started as an alternative to nonowrimo, the goal is to post to your blog every day of nov. The site now supports daily blogging any month but november is still the highest participation.
I might do something crazy & try both.
I heard of NaBloPoMo last year. I’ve always shied away from it since I posted everyday for a very long time when I was part of The Bright Side Project. Posting for me here everyday isn’t a problem. In fact, I limit myself! It’s the creative writing that stops me in my tracks. I was thinking of doing NaNoWriMo and posting little character studies or plot points here everyday, but I haven’t decided.
Do it. Do it. Do it. I can’t wait to read your book.
Hah! I don’t think anything I get from this exercise will be publishable, but I’m hoping that it inspires in me an idea that is. We’ll see. :)
I signed up a few years back…only to not even write a single page. If I wasn’t running at full throttle right now, I’d do it with you.
I think you could easily turn one of your blog posts into a book concept. Are you looking to do fiction, though? Also, remember…it doesn’t have to be perfect on November 30. It just needs to be a first draft. Get it out, then polish, polish, polish.
…says the girl who never even began.
Bah. There are enough blogs to books out there, and many much better than mine!
You might consider trying some daily writing exercises to get your juices flowing before NaNoWriMo. Just 10 minutes a day. Just write. The Well Fed Muse has some fun ones (http://wellfedmuse.blogspot.com). A story idea might pop out of there.
Also, I don’t think you should feel at all constrained to keep it fiction. Nonfiction comprises about 70% of book sales, so it is more sellable than fiction. So a memoir might be a nice way to go about it.
I tweeted at you last night (@oniasay) about this, but I really think you should do it! Even if you set a smaller goal for yourself (mine last year was to just write SOMETHING every day), you still have their great website full of encouragement and support, ready to push you through to the very end. You also have your blog readers, who will cheer you on all month!
I always find that if I can get that first sentence or paragraph down, I can keep writing�even if I don’t know what the story is, even if it changes completely while I write it, even if it’s so biographical that it can barely pass for fiction, at least I’m writing. Maybe you aren’t thrilled with the end result. That’s okay. You’ll still have gotten in the habit of sitting down and getting something down on paper, and you’ll have those few perfect gems of sentences or ideas that make everything worth it.
Oh! And sometimes when I’m stuck, I read through the BSP questions. They make wonderful writing prompts : )
YAYYYYY!!! Do it!
Um…..my heart started to go “pitter patter” as I read this.
Perhaps this is my sign.
I’m fairly new to blogging, and I came across your blog a few months ago. I love it so much, I read it everyday and just wanted to especially thank you for this post. I’d never heard of NaNoWriMo and after reading your post I signed up. I’m a short story writer, but have been wanting to write a novel for awhile. With all I have going on, I’m not very disciplined, and this is exactly the kind of thing I need. So, again, thank you. And happy writing! :)
I have done it before, and honestly? I didn’t really write a book, it was more of an extremely long letter to myself. I answered random questions and talked about what was going on with my life, I would talk about whatever I was thinking about or did that day, it was completely random. But I finished it. That was a few years ago and it’s still saved on my computer. It’s interesting to go back and re-read it.
Haven’t ever commented before, but the shared birthday seemed to be a similarity worth mentioning. I did it a couple of years ago. It was tough, and like you, I thought it would be a fantastic gift to myself…a coming of age sort of thing. I’m glad I did it. Don’t think I’ll do it again this year. It is tough work. Especially if you don’t go into it with a plot or characters. You’ve got a couple of weeks to formulate ideas…You can do it. It is cool to look back on the drivel that was written, and for that, it was a pretty great 35th birthday present.