National Novel Writing Month

For those who might be unaware, November is National Novel Writing Month. All across the US (and possibly beyond) people take the Nanowrimo challenge to write 50,000 words in one month. There is no prize beyond bragging rights, but it’s fun.

There’s even  a website (Google Nanowrimo to find it – I’d provide the link but I don’t have Internet here on the bus) where you can enter and update your word count, post sample pages, and discuss the experience on user forums. It’s hosted by the same folks who did the scriptwriting challenge I took last April.

I love Nanowrimo. But I’m not doing it this year.

First, I’ve done it more than once – I know that I can. My first novel, Fever Jenny, grew from a Nanowrimo project.

But I haven’t liked my results from the last few Novembers. I can get the word count, but the stories don’t add up. I find myself forcing the story ahead to reach the exciting, easy-to-write, high word count scenes, absolutely killing any sense of pacing. I find myself collecting large unfinished pieces with no promise of resolution.

And I find myself not doing the follow-up work when November ends.

So this is my plan for this November. First, I’m going to finish that dratted April project (which I should be able to do in about a week, if I actually commit myself to doing the work). Then I’m going to take the half-finished story from last November (which actually only reached about 48,000 words) and fill in the missing pieces, so that it’s done right. And maybe even finish it.

But I’m not going to obsess over the word count.

So November is still my month for challenging myself. For writing and learning from the doing of it. 

Oh, and I’ll keep with the blogging, too, so you know how I’m doing.