Taming the Writing Process One Good Habit at a Time

How has participating in NaNoWriMo impacted you? Long-time Wrimo Elizabeth Braughler describes her success at NaNoWriMo as “life-changing” and seeks to share that transformative experience with others: 

“Our library hosts what?” 

I stared at the message I’d received in reply to my inquiry on local writing groups. It had taken everything in me to hit send, to admit to someone other than my family that I was actively writing. Attempting a full fledged novel, no less.

I knew it wasn’t going well. I’d been at the same story for well over a year, with only a few chapters and a million (or so it felt) rewrites. I couldn’t push through and my motivation was lagging. I was only writing when I felt inspired, which meant I wasn’t writing.

Enter NaNoWriMo, and — at the risk of giving away my happy ending — I won my first ever NaNo.

Most of you probably already know why I had that success, because you’ve experienced it firsthand. NaNoWriMo means a lot of things to a lot of different people and, for me, it was the stepping-stone that would formulate my writing process.

I jumped on the NaNoWriMo site a month out from its start and signed up. I was utterly clueless as to what I was getting myself into. I didn’t even get what word sprints meant prior to my journey with NaNo. I was the newest of newbies. I prepped very little, being the pantser I claimed to be, and ditched my old novel to start fresh with a new idea.

I think it may have something to do with my competitive nature, but I thrived. The idea of crushing word counts each day drove me, and you better believe I worked hard to win some of those word sprints, once I actually got what they were.

I had finally found a process that worked for me: sitting down every day and writing. It didn’t have to be perfect or even great; it was a first draft, which I learned could suck. I was taking the time to form a new habit — a good one — that made me go from piddling around on my keyboard to actually producing a full story. It didn’t matter if what I wrote was inspired or just helped me get from point a to point b. Writing daily worked my creative muscles.

Even when November came and went, I kept going. I had more story to tell and I now knew if I could write 50,000 words in a month, then I could certainly reach 100,000 in the span of two. I pushed through those next thirty-one days and finished a complete first draft. I got to the very end of my story. It was rough and messy, but I had done it. 

The funny thing was, I’d expected to feel sated when I wrote that last sentence. Instead, I felt like I’d just begun. As if I’d unlocked a new facet of myself that was ready to be put to work. I wanted to keep writing.

Even just a few months after NaNo, things already look a bit different for me. My pantsing-loving self has taken to at least prepping basic outlines and I’ve gotten connected to a writing group that inspires me and keeps me motivated.

The one thing that hasn’t changed for this novice writer, however, is the practice of working on a project daily. Whatever the time frame I’ve blocked out — a month, two months — I commit to working on the manuscript every day. It’s a really small step in a much larger scheme of the mysterious writer process, but it’s one that’s working well for this writer and I’m sticking to it.

Elizabeth is new to the world of writing, having joined NaNoWriMo in 2020 which led to participation with the online community of Pennwriters. When she’s not working on a manuscript, you’ll most likely find her with a fantasy novel and good cup of coffee. Though she’s had varying vocations from barista to birth doula, she finds her role as a full-time homeschool parent to be the most rewarding. Elizabeth lives in northwestern Pennsylvania with her husband, two daughters and bernedoodle.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash.