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| https://nanowrimo.org |
November has come and gone. Of course I participated in the
National Novel Writing Month, or nanowrimo again this year. In fact
since I participated in November of 2017, I have participated in
several creative challenges including Camp NaNoWriMo in both April
and July and then the SoFoBoMo in August. I don’t think I thought
about whether or not I was going to do nanowrimo again this year, it
was just something that I was going to do.
In the last 13 months, starting on November 1, 2017, I have
written more than I have in any other 13 month period, ever. I think
much of that is in part to these creative challenges. Even thought I
would not consider any of these manuscripts as being especially great
or even inspired, they are complete drafts and a good show of work.
I also think that these creative challenges are perfect for anyone
who wanted to learn the discipline that it takes in order to get
something done, to see a project from the beginning straight to the
end.
What I did was this: I wrote another novel. When I looked at this
particular novel, Lovejoy, I
see a piece of writing that is not vastly different from anything
else I’ve ever written. In fact, if I’m honest, I have written the
same novel twenty times. In this latest effort, I feel like I’ve been
able to stay with my practice and fit it well into the confines of
the nanowrimo program.
Why I did what I did: what the
hell else am I going to do? I decided a long long time ago that I
wanted to be a writer. It wasn’t that I wanted to write news, or that
I wanted to write anything technical, nonfiction or really anything
of value. I wanted to write novels. So, perhaps I should say that
long ago I wanted to become a novelist.
When I first discovered
nanowrimo, I found the concept to be very appealing because I like to
work fast. I like to work fast only because if I work slowly, I grow
bored, insensitive and vague. Of all the novels I have written, one
took me three and a half years, and another one took 13 days. Big
difference. The one that took 3.5 years is not good if only because
of how much I changed in that time and it is reflected in the voice
of the narration. Thirteen days is too short, and I even think 30
days is too short. It’s a great way to steep in creativity, work more
and reflect less on a project.
I’m starting to think that
writing a novel is something that everyone should do. I also think
that everyone should try out nanowrimo. It’s only 30 days. It’s 30
days of all consuming work and that really is worth the challenge.