NaNoWriMo

November approaches, and with it comes National Novel Writing Month, a "writing event" that involves people all over the world trying to write a 50,000 word novel from scratch during the month of November. Along with NaNoWriMo comes, inevitably, a flock of earnest would-be writers asking whether or not they should participate (and, occasionally, whether I have).

Taking the easy part first: No, I haven't ever done NaNoWriMo myself. I've thought about it a couple of times, but I know my process pretty well, and generally, I'm a plodder. 500 words a day, day in and day out, works fine for me; 1700 words a day for 30 days is beyond hard, unless I've hit on an idea that simply won't let go and that just flows out my fingertips. Which has happened exactly twice in the past 30 years…and I'm not sure either thing would have continued to flow like that if I'd been trying to make myself meet that goal every single day.

Then, too, November tends to be a busy month, with holiday preparations and Thanksgiving both taking a big chunk of time that would normally be available for other things. There have been quite a few years where I didn't even make my normal 500 word daily quota. This year, I'll have all the usual, plus house guests early in the month, plus a bunch of family business that's been hanging fire while I got the page proofs for Across the Great Barrier proofread. In other words, I'd have the chance of the proverbial snowball in hell of finishing.

The hard question, though, is really the first one - should someone try this? The reason it's hard is because there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer. You have to know something about the person asking, their capabilities, and their other responsibilities before you can even begin to guess whether they'll be able to tackle it. (When Lois and I did a college tea the week before last, one of the students we were talking to asked us whether she should do NaNoWriMo. Lois looked at her and said, "Do you have any finals that month?" The student looked startled, having apparently expected a simple yes or no response.)

So if you're thinking about doing NaNoWriMo, consider: What else do you have to do in November? If you have no finals, projects, or reports due at school or at work; if you aren't responsible for anything at Thanksgiving except showing up to dinner; if your holiday presents and preparations are either well under control or perennially done at the last minute some time in December…then you're good in this regard. If one or more of those things isn't true, you're going to be juggling priorities. Take a long, hard look in advance and decide just how good a juggler you really are before you make a commitment.

Also consider: How do you react to failure? If you're going to be devastated if you get to the end of the month with 49,000 words instead of the requisite 50,000, maybe this is not the thing for you. If, on the other hand, you're pretty sure that if you weigh in with 25,000 words at month's end, you'll be utterly delighted because that's twice as many as you've ever achieved before…maybe you should give it a go.

Next, consider whatever you already know about your work habits and what works for you. If you work best and produce most under pressure, by all means try and see whether this sort of public deadline helps. If deadlines and pressure make you freeze up, you probably shouldn't. If you're not sure…well, sometimes experimenting is the only way to find out what works.

Even if you're pretty sure that you are, like me, a slow-and-steady plodder,  you might want to experiment with NaNoWriMo, just to see whether the commitment, the deadline, and the public support and accountability help or hurt your production rate. Sometimes, forcing yourself past your limits helps move those limits outward. Other times, it results in a nervous breakdown. Consider carefully what your particular reaction is likely to be, and factor that into your decision.

The absolute most important question to ask yourself, though, is this: Will it be fun?

Because really, if it isn't going to be fun on some level, why do it?