Show notes
I think most of you know that I’m a writer. Like, not just a gal who writes blog posts, but a real live fiction author (under a pen name) as well.
So, today we're talking about NaNoWrimo (Nano...what?), why writer-type-folk should consider taking part in it this November, and—for you non-writers—lessons I've learned from my participation in NaNoWriMo that absolutely and totally apply to other areas of life.
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What is NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo started in 1999, and stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's basically a ginormous annual challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November.
Fifty thousand words, you guys.
Thirty days, you guys.
Who takes part in stuff like this?
Crazy people, obviously.
Crazy people like me. I take part in it. I even get excited for it, like Christmas y'all.
NaNoWriMo has grown into a year round website that helps you track your words, provides pep talks from well known authors, and gives you a place to talk to other people who are taking the same crazy challenge as you. (Like 455,080 authors that participated in 2019. Wut??)
NaNoWriMo is now a non-profit, and their programs support writing fluency and education. Their programs now include National Novel Writing Month in November, Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July, the Young Writers Program, Come Write In, and the “Now What?” Months in January and February.
And it's not just a crazy challenge or a cutesy project. Some big names and big books started as NaNoWriMo projects. Books like Water for Elephants, The Night Circus, Wool, Fangirl, The Darwin Elevator, and Cinder.
How much is 50,000 words?
So, 50k words in a month. Wut? Those of you who aren’t writers probably can't wrap your head around word counts because you're used to counting pages. Traditionally (you know, back when I was in college and books were printed on paper) we were told to figure 250ish words to a page. With that line of thinking, a 50k manuscript will net you a 200 word novel.
**But with new formatting and ebooks and all those things, the concept of “pages” has kind of changed.
But why? Why would you even try write 50,000 words in a month?
To see if you can.
Back in 2013, I heard about this super cool thing—NaNoWri...something. I had yet another story idea in me and was looking for a kick in the pants. I thought 50k words? whatever. No way. But I have this story idea in me, so why not?
And I did it. I looked down towards the end of the month and saw I had passed 50k words and I cried.
I had actually done it.
This will be my 4th year doing Nano. Early in my fiction writing career (pre-2013) I wrote romantic comedies. But then I got comfortable enough to write the kind of stuff I really wanted to write—psychological thriller, mystery, dark fiction type stuff. So that's what I write now.
My first NaNoWriMo project, The Me You See, was published in 2014.
My second, The Visit, I didn’t finish, but it's on the list to go back to.
My third, Opposite of Gray, is currently being edited.
My 4th (2020!) will be a novel called Snap about current events and human nature as told through the eyes of four people in a small town.
Things I’ve Learned From NaNoWriMo
Pre-NanoWriMo, I had it in my head that the first draft of a book took at least a year to write. We needed time to think and consider and mull over and wait for the muse to show up.
Nano was absolutely THE thing that taught me I can write 50k words in a month. Nano taught me that I can complete that goal by averaging 1667 words a day. Some days I wrote less, some days I wrote way more. I learned that if I apply the seat of my pants to the seat of my ...
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