Have you heard of NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place every November, and people try to write an entire novel—50,000 words—in one month. That may sound like a steep goal, but it's doable!
This year I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time. I hadn't written fiction since high school, and I started this challenge ten days late. And yes, it has definitely been a challenge.
As I write this post, there are four days left in November, and I have 6500 words left to write. Because I jumped in ten days late, I've been busting my butt to write double the projected words every day so I could catch up. I also didn't have any time to plan, and I've been pantsing my entire story.
Will my story be ready for publishing by the end of the month? Nope. Not even close. It doesn't hit the proper story beats and it needs much more worldbuilding. I would also need to send it to beta readers and an editor or two if I were planning to publish. Publishing this story is not out of the question, but I didn't write it to publish it.
If I didn't plan on publishing my story, why did I do NaNoWriMo?
Writing is good practice for editing. Writing my own fiction makes me a better fiction editor because I know what it's like to be on the other side. I know how difficult it is to write something well, and I know how frustrating it can be to revise work that you put so much time and effort into.
Writing stretches my creative muscles. Creativity isn't something that people have or lack. Creativity is a muscle, and the more you stretch it, the easier it will be to create things.
Writing 50K words in a month is a challenge. I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could actually write that many words in a month. I've had to put time aside every day to reach this goal, and it has helped me build the habit of writing and being creative.
Overall, I have enjoyed every minute of NaNoWriMo. I love the community of writers and editors who take part in the event, and writing this much has pushed me to dive even further into my career as an editor.
Did you take part in NaNoWriMo this year? Tell me about your WIP!
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