NaNoWriMo

For those of you who aren't aware November is National Novel Writing Month. There is a NaNoWriMo contest in which contestants are challenged to write a 50,000 word fiction novel between November 1 and November 30th. Since word count is the goal, there is no time to edit or review. In order to make the goal, it is necessary to charge ahead and get the novel into the computer. You can't cross the finish line until your word count has been verified.

I first heard about the contest last year, but wasn't yet up for it. I desperately longed to do it, but hadn't yet built the mental muscles necessary for such a feat. In the year since then, I made a point of focusing on my writing and have grown tremendously in my abilities and confidence as a writer. When the contest came around again I jumped at the chance to test my strength.

For a writer like me, who normally edits every time I open a Word document I've been working on, it was challenging at first to continue to write without looking back to fix mistakes. I knew there were typos, glaring awkward passages and even characters named differently in different sections of the piece. With time of the essence, I was forced to let it go and just get the story down. In forging ahead, instead of constantly reviewing and revising, I found myself liberated from a habit that had, until then, put a damper on my creative flow.

This November I completed my first NaNoWriMo in under twenty-eight days. I still have plenty of editing and revising to do, but I have 51,285 words of novel with which to play. Now that I've accomplished that, I know I can do the polishing. Wish me luck.

Cheers to happy endings!