How NaNoWriMo 2016 Worked Out For Me by Stacy Hoff

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My writer friends and I always talk about our progress, which is not surprising. The writing community is small, passionate, helpful, and eager to keep everyone motivated. But even with this group of cheerleaders, we like to jump on events that help move us along, NaNoWriMo is one of them. NaNoWriMo, if you are unfamiliar with it, is National Novel Writing Month, an annual event that happens every November. Writers are challened to write 1,665 words a day for 30 days to complete a 50,000-word manuscript. The goal is to push writers into completing a full draft of a novel that they can later edit, and then submit, to literary agents and/or editors. Those who formally particpate get an on-line community to offer support, a place to log their word count, and—if you complete the task —a free tee-shirt.

Or so I’ve been told. I never formally participated in NaNoWriMo. Somehow, registering for this seems too intimidating. This year, I did participate in the challenge, although in my own way. I connected with my writer friends and the larger writing community. I joined Twitter chats which provided me with encouragement and commiseration. I forced myself to write, write, write.

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My NaNoWriMo participation “prize” was letting my uber-nasty inner-critic go. I used NaNoWriMo to do something comepletely different than my usual writing. Instead of a contemporary romance, I worked on a dystopian novel. So what if this is oddball for me? Having had only 30 days to worry about it, I was willing to dive into a dystopian pool.

The downside to NaNoWriMo was the timing. November brought travel, and multiple celebrations, for me and my family. Because of this, I did not live up to the 50,000-word goal. Though I did accomplish a lot more than I thought I could.

The upside of my informal NaNoWriMo participation was huge. I launched a new writing project that has a solid start. The event gave me a new challenge that unleashed my creativity. For that, NaNoWriMo has my deepest thanks. I’ll be back next year. See you at NaNoWriMo 2017!

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Filed under: A writer's life, contemporary romance, creative writing, editing, fear, goals, romance, Stacy Hoff, writer’s block, Writing, writing prompt