As most of you probably know, November is National Novel
Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo. If you choose to actually participate
in “the movement,” you pledge to write 50,000 words by the end of the month,
which equates to about 1,666 words a day. Five or so years ago I decided to do
this, and was successful at meeting the final word count with a day or so to
spare, no easy feat considering I was working full time and hosting
Thanksgiving. Every year during this time I reflect on the experience
with mixed feelings. On one hand, I’m glad I did it. On another, it was
actually kind of a huge waste.
Pros
A friend of mine at work participated at the same time, so
it was a fun experience comparing numbers and lamenting together.
I always enjoy a project.
I loved the graph features of the website- I’m driven by
numbers and progress, so it was really motivating to log on and see where I was
every day.
It was a good writing exercise- there is something to be
said for being able to produce under pressure.
Bragging rights!
Cons
NaNoWriMo is really about quantity, not quality.
Somewhere around day 15 or 20 the goal became a massive
chore, which took away from the initial fun and passion.
Because of the time and word count the process never felt
organic. If you lag one day you have to make it up later.
There really isn’t time to revise, at all, which for many
people is part of their natural writing process.
Novels are generally more than 50,000 words, so if you
really want to write a book and try to publish it, this would be an awkward
amount to stop at (not really a novella, but not a novel either).
I am actually quite embarrassed about what I wrote, which
seems like a pretty pathetic end to a month of hard work.
Personally, I'll never do it again and the whole thing sort of left a bad taste in my mouth. Anyone else try it? Thoughts?
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