5 Ways NaNoEdMo Can Boost Your Writing Craft

February is wrapping up, but that doesn’t mean that you have to stop editing, pitching, or working on your writing project. In just a few days, we’ll be launching this year’s Camp NaNoWriMo, where you can keep working on your current story, or create a new one! But if you’re still deep in editing mode and want to discover more about the wider editing community, author Amber Michelle Cook is here to tell you about NaNoEdMo:

You did NaNoWriMo and have a novel!  [*high five*] [*low five*] [*fist bump*] Now you’re looking for ways to craft that early draft into something even better.  One of those ways is to do NaNoEdMo.  

During National Novel Editing Month (held every year in March), writers participate in a challenge to spend 50 hours over the course of the 31 days of the month rewriting and editing your novel (or other writing project). An unaffiliated sister event to NaNoWriMo, NaNoEdMo has articles, forums, contests and winner goodies. And lots of camaraderie.

Any time you make a Big Push, doing a writing challenge like NaNoWriMo or an editing challenge like NaNoEdMo, you learn how much more you can accomplish than you ever thought possible. The benefits of this can be widespread over time, allowing you to take on more and new challenges with a higher degree of confidence and higher levels of expectation of yourself. But what about the specific benefits to your craft?

1. In theory…

EdMo is all about editing, with new articles released each year, as well as forum posts and discussions, so you will learn in theory how to rewrite and self-edit your work better, faster, smarter. An increased understanding of what editing is will open your mind to new strategies and observations of your own work.

2. In Practice…  

Edmo is all about improving your existing draft by doing, so you will learn in practice how to rewrite and self-edit your work better, faster, smarter. You’ll be ready to edit future projects that much better and more efficiently from the start.

3. In Draft…  

As you incorporate what you’ve learned about rewriting and self-editing into your initial drafts or new chapters, they will be written at a higher level of craft to begin with!

4. In Concept…  

Once you start working on other projects in the future, you’ll have the history of your editing experiences in the back of your mind, and this means you’ll make more informed choices about the kinds of projects you embark on. Whatever kind of story you choose to begin will have a better chance of being strong, tight, and sale-able (or whatever your personal goals and targets are).

5. In Resource… 

When March is over and you soldier on with editing that project into shape, Edmo will have exposed you to a wide variety of resources on the subject, so that you can continue to learn and improve your editing skills over the coming year.

Like NaNoWriMo, EdMo isn’t always easy, but it’s always rewarding and productive.  

You can sign up at www.nanoedmo.com.  We look forward to seeing you in the forums!

Amber Michelle Cook is a speculative fiction author and the director of National Novel Editing Month, proudly living in ‘Keep Portland Weird’ Portland, OR.  She’s a member of NIWA (the Northwest Independent Writers Association) and The People’s Ink writing community, with years of experience in writer’s critique groups.  She did NaNoEdMo the first year it started, and every year thereafter, and loves it so much, she took over when the first director stepped down.  Her author site:  ambermichellecook.weebly.com

Top image licensed under Creative Commons from Colin Harris on Flickr.