The Joy of Validation

For my major in college, I ended up spending a lot of time in writing workshops. These classes, their professors, and the students involved all tended to be…provocative. There was the professor who shared a name with a 90’s hip hop duo, and went on at length about majesty of falcons. There was the workshop where we were asked to stand up, one by one, and offer up our most penetrating insight into a peer’s work, intervention style (Note: this does not for a comfortable class make).

But one of the perks of being in a workshop is that they’re almost always made up of pretty interesting folk. Now, interesting can lean towards good or bad. You can learn from both, but taking a lesson from the bad (telling yourself, “Oh, right. That’s why I shouldn’t do that”) is uniquely satisfying. There should be a German word for it. Which brings me to my classmate, Beowulf (name changed, privacy’s sake, etc.)(Because it was a celeb!)

(Just kidding, it wasn’t, but that would’ve been cool, too.)

Beowulf seemed to be one of those people who had everything going for them. Confidence oozing from pores so thick, you could see streaks of it on everything he or she touched. A couple of weeks into the semester, when we were all to read our work for the class, Beowulf leaned back when it came to his or her turn, steepled fingers, and said, “I’ll pass. I don’t feel the need to be validated by my peers.”

Bam!

It still makes me smile. On the one hand, I’m a little awed by Beowulf’s unerring self-certainty. On the other, I think there was a point missed there somewhere. Writing can be solitary work, and there are a ton of anxieties that come from doing it alone, including worries about tunnel vision, inability to finish, and more (right? Am I alone here? Voila, writerly insecurity, take a bow!). 

Workshops are great for testing out a more finished version of your product, but NaNoWriMo feels like an in media res workshop, if that makes sense. One of my favorite things about Camp NaNoWriMo is knowing that I’m not working in a vacuum, that there are people in my cabin who can see my progress, and will either nudge me to get to typing, or congratulate me on my word count.

I can go to the forums, and ask for plot ideas, or to see if there’s anyone who’s an expert in medieval monster lore. I love that at the end of my first draft, I can submit my novel, and share in a feeling of accomplishment with writers from all around the world.

Sure, I might not need to be validated by my peers, but there’s a joy in sharing well-earned accomplishments, in being able to take a break after banging out a first draft, and allowing yourself to be patted on the back. “You did good work. You persevered in taking on a monumental task. You pushed yourself. We’re proud of you.” Who wouldn’t want to hear that?

It’s why I’m the number-one fan of the phrasing of that link on our Edit Novel page.  The Camp NaNoWriMo challenge doesn’t come to a stop after you type “The End” in the privacy of your own document. There’s another step to come, a community to share your accomplishment with, one more link to click:

“I am ready to validate my novel.”

Have you already gotten a winner’s badge, or are you on your way? How sweet does victory taste?

— Tim

Photo by Flickr user ~Zoe~