NaNoWriMo Week 1
This year, National Novel Writing Month coincides with the drafting of a new novel so, unlike most years, I will be participating.
Why?
Aren’t I already a successful (for certain values of success) full-time author? Why would you hold yourself to the NaNoWriMo schedule?
Why not?
There are a lot of writers who don’t like NaNoWriMo, or the fact that so many people pick up the pen to participate in it. They complain about how it emphasizes quantity over quality, about how the participants are only writing to join in on the month’s event, about how they’ll go back to being non-writers on December 1st, about how it all adds to the morass of unreadable fiction out there in the self-publishing marketplace.
So what?
I’ll never understand how so many writers can be so insecure about the way other people practice their craft. Or rather, how they can be so insecure about the way that they practice their own craft that they feel the need to disparage everyone who does it differently.
Does the way you write bring you closer to your personal writing goals? If so, great! You’re doing it right. If not, maybe try something else.
That’s the writer’s journey. Recognizing that there are an almost infinite number of ways to go about this, and narrowing down “what works” to “what works for me.” And I personally believe that the habits NaNoWriMo encourages—writing every day, finishing your draft before you go back and edit—can only lead to a better process.
And if that doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. But don’t discourage others from exploring what might work for them. Their improvement and success doesn’t lessen you.
Okay so NaNoWriMo
The book I’m working on is the first in a new series, so there was a lot of worldbuilding and planning involved. I’d originally planned to start on this in October, but put it aside when my cat fell ill. Having the pre-writing done gave me a big advantage when it came to maintaining a strong work-rate, but naturally I advocate planning over pantsing anyway.
I started out this first week of November strong, with 4900 words on day one and 4200 on day two. These are good rates, and if I’d been able to keep them up, I would have hit the 50000 word mark by the end of week 2.
Of course, nothing is ever simple or easy.
I feel like an old man
I hurt my back. Not sure how. But I did. End result was that sitting for long periods became increasingly painful, and this had a notable impact on my word-count.
On day 3 I was able to get a few hours of work in lying in bed, ending the day with 2000 words written.
Normally I work at my desk. That’s one of the big writing tips bandied about… have a special place to write, and do nothing there but write. I stick to that most of the time, and writing in bed felt… well, wrong. Off. It’s not really easy, even when uninjured, to write in a recline, but it spared my back the agony of sitting.
Maybe if I had one of those standing desks I would have done better.
Still, Day 3 I didn’t otherwise take it as easy as I should have, and things were only worse on day 4. Day 4 I spent writing on the couch, but only managed 1200 words.
Book.
Day 5 I was feeling a bit better and attempted to do a hybrid thing were I switched off, hour by hour, at the desk and in bed. Back up to 1800 words. Yay me.
It’s Day 6 now, and while I feel less pain, my lower back is definitely keen on reminding me that it’s there. It feels very… present. So I’m being cautious. Careful. Perhaps overly so, but I’ve got some audio-drama directing to do tomorrow and I want to be at the top of my game.
So. Day 6 so far? 1000 words. I’d like to get to 2k, at least, which will bring me to around 16000 for week one. Not too shabby. But I could be faster.
Questions? You are invited to either leave a comment below, or ask directly through the comment form.
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