NaNoWriMo. That thing that happens every November and consumes every waking thought of those with even a tiny inclination towards writing. What is it you ask? The acronym stands for National Novel Writing Month. What is it all about? Well, here's the deal...
Every November, from the 1st to the 30th, writers from around the world are challenged to type up a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Anyone who reaches that goal is deemed a winner of the challenge and receive a nifty certificate that can be printed out.
That's it, you say?
Well, oh ho ho. Who says winning always needs a physical prize?
Many people compete in NaNo not for the glory, but for their own personal benefit and a feeling of accomplishment. NaNo is seen as a no holds bared way to get everything that's in your head out and onto a word document without maddening thoughts of editing and perfecting. The goal is to write 50,000 words of a rough draft. Some never go back to their story once it's done, but others use NaNo as a starting point for a new novel. That's what I did.
On the 1st, I tossed aside all of my carefully crafted character profiles and world builder worksheets and dove headfirst into Microsoft Word, typing -nearly- every day to make my daily word goal. It was tough, especially around Thanksgiving, and I fell off that every day band wagon for almost a week, which nearly killed my chances of finishing. I wouldn't have lost anything for missing my goal, but I would have felt very disappointed in myself, as this was my second year, and my first year ended rather quickly at only 12k words.
The last two days of November I don't even remember. All I did was write and go to my job. I don't remember sleeping. I don't remember going to work, or even being there, but I must have because I got paid for the hours. All I remember was that I had 10,000 words to do in 48 hours, a huge feat considering the average daily goal is about 1400 words.
But I beat my own odds, and rose triumphant with 23 minutes to midnight at 50,424 words.
It was equally the most personally satisfying and insanely frustrating thing I have ever done. I'm surprised I still had fingernails left from chewing on them and hair on my head, because I constantly wanted to pull it out.
Tie that in with the stress from the holiday season when working retail, I'm also surprised I didn't end up with an ulcer.
Despite all that, I will no doubt do it next year(read; this year) and I encourage others to do it as well. Even if you don't finish, you'd be surprised at what your brain can kick out when you give in to reckless abandon.
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