September 28, 2012
Tapping Into the Unknown of NaNoWriMo
I am a pretty lazy writer. I get easily sidetracked, sporadically jot down journal entries, and barely remember my favorite quotes. However, this year changed a lot of my bad habits. Perhaps it was because I had enough material, what with being abroad, graduating, and moving to a new city. I began blogging, travel writing, and reflecting on my academic/day-to-day life- writing in genres that I never thought I could! These were big baby steps, however… I want to take it a step further. I want to write a novel. And I want to do it in the month of November.
Admittedly, running a marathon or going to sky diving have never been on my bucket list. But, writing a novel tops even my expectations of myself. Last fall, my friend Carolyn did an amazing thing – she wrote an entire novel throughout the month of November. And, she vlogged about it. The excruciatingly slow days, the few productive days, the hours in tiny coffee shops, and the random minutes in between classes were all caught on tape, hilariously recording her writing process. It was hard – there is never enough time in the day to write all the words you need. Characters develop into something unusable, plot twists become crooked, and motivation lags after coffee #20 and two late night assignments. Yet, even though I know all of the setbacks, I think it would be an amazing journey! One that can’t come at a better time in my life.
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, has a simple website with tons of writing widgets for word counts, forums for peptalks, and ways to donate. It is pretty cool thing. It’s larger network of fans, writers, and sponsors is huge! Tons of people just like us are writing – some doing it for the first time and others writing as season vets. Another community? Hello! I need all the help I can get… and support. Check it out and see if you are up for taking on this challenge in your life!
After thinking about it, this newfound inspiration comes, in part, from the opening of the Casual Vacancy. Warning: I have NOT read it yet! However, I give Jo major props for moving away from the Wizarding World and into a very British, familiar little town. It takes some guts to remake your self… and your writing. Perhaps my essays will turn into fiction days or years from now. Or, it will get better.. I hope.
Have you ever written a novel? Or fiction? Tell me about it! Advice, personal stories, inspiration is SO greatly appreciated. I can’t wait to hear from you!
Erin Millar
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It makes me unbelievably happy that you wrote about NaNoWriMo!
This will be my…wow. I think this will be my ninth year participating and it’s something I look forward to every year (I mean, even though I’m pretty much constantly working on a novel in some stage, it’s refreshing to shut up my inner editor for 30 days).