It’s almost November, which means it’s nearly time for NaNoWriMo!
What is NaNoWriMo, you may ask? Well, I’m happy to tell you.
NaNoWriMo is “National Novel Writing Month.” Every November, a few million people decide that they are going to write a novel. That’s 50,000 words. In 30 days.
Insane, right?
Here’s what is going on, from my perspective anyway. All of us have an innate desire to create something. To express ourselves. But… for whatever reason, we don’t.
Actually, there are reasons. We tell ourselves, “I’m not any good at this.” Or, “No one wants to see what I write.” Or even just that, “I can’t do this.” We’ll call that your inner Critic (and the Critic’s friend, your inner Editor). And they don’t want you to be creative. You let them decide that you can’t do this.
50,000 words. 30 days. That’s 1,667 words per day. That’s… a lot. And that’s deliberate.
If you’re going to get 1,667 words down in one day, you have to write. You can’t think about what you’re writing. You can’t go, “Is this good?”. You can’t think, “Does anyone even want to look at this?”
I’ll give you a hint. At that writing speed, it won’t be good. It’s going to be an unedited mess. And it doesn’t matter.
Because you don’t have time to listen to that Critic or that Editor either. Ignore them. It’s just you and the keyboard. Or the pen. Or a sharpened reed and a clay tablet. We don’t judge.
You need to get what is inside of you out. Your story. Your idea. Your passion. It doesn’t matter what it is. You just need to get it down onto paper. Or a folder in DropBox. You know what I mean.
Nothing between you and your idea. Words on a screen. Or a clay tablet. It’s there. You did it. You let your idea out.
You created something.
And the next time, it will be easier. And the next even easier than that. And soon, what was once pretty bad will start becoming kinda good. And you’ll learn that maybe you don’t need that pesky inner Critic or Editor anymore.
NaNoWriMo exists to help get rid of those two. So, go to the website (nanowrimo.org) and sign up. There are other people there who will cheer you on, give you advice and support, and keep telling you that you can do this. Because you can.
And don’t think that just because it’s in the name that you have to write a “Novel.” Write a collection of short stories. Erotic poetry. Amusing Amazon reviews. Anything. We’ll call you a Rebel, but hey, some people like that title.
You don’t even have to show anyone what you wrote. An automated widget will do the official word count, but it doesn’t keep what you wrote. It just gives you a number.
It doesn’t cost anything. You don’t win anything either. Unless being able to say that you wrote a novel counts as a win. Because, you know, not everyone can do that.
50,000 words. 30 days. Join us.
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