DON’T STOP — Your Story Is Calling You

NaNoWriMo is my birthday present to myself each year. Every year, I love it. And every year, I hate it…there’s simply too much to do in the tiny little month of November.

I tend to arrive at December 1st a little bit out of breath.

And still, I love NaNoWriMo.

I love the community, the late-night writing sprints, the before and after parties my local team throws. I love the write-ins, the pep talks, the excitement and uploading my word count. I adore getting the chance to encourage my peeps and watch everyone chase their goals.

Whether you’re gearing up for NaNoWriMo or not, I wish you luck in your writing goals.

If you are doing the NaNo challenge, I’d like to address the dreaded phenomenon of the Week Two Wall where the initial endorphins have faded and the grind of a crazy writing schedule sets in.

Words like “can’t,” “shouldn’t,” and “haven’t” begin to rear their ugly heads.

We all hate those words, whether we’re doing a writing challenge or not. So before NaNo starts, I’d like to chat about what I consider to be a NaNo “win”:

• Your very best = a NaNo win
• Achieving your goal numbers = a NaNo win (ex: my goal this month is 25K, not 50K)
• Finishing a project = a NaNo win
• Forming new and amazing writing habits = a NaNo win

I think people get twitchy about some things that don’t matter during the month of November. You’ve seen this cartoon from InkyGirl, right?

NaNo should be fun.

The only word count that matters is YOURS.

Oh, you want a roadmap? Here’s Kristen Lamb’s 8 Elements to Nailing Your Plot & Owning NaNoWriMo.

And if you MUST “Go 50K or Bust”… Behold the NaNo Team’s Tips for Successful WriMos…

Overview of the things we wish we had known for our first NaNoWriMo:

1. It’s okay to not know what you’re doing. Really. You’ve read a lot of novels, so you’re completely up to the challenge of writing one.

2. If you feel more comfortable outlining your story ahead of time, do it! But it’s also fine to just wing it.

3. Write every day, and a book-worthy story will appear, even if you’re not sure what that story might be right now.

4. Do not edit as you go. Editing is for December and beyond. Think of November as an experiment in pure output.

5. Even if it’s hard at first, leave ugly prose and poorly written passages on the page to be cleaned up later. Your inner editor will be very grumpy about this, but your inner editor is a nitpicky jerk who foolishly believes that it is possible to write a brilliant first draft if you write it slowly enough. It isn’t.

6. Every book you’ve ever loved started out as a beautifully flawed first draft. In November, embrace imperfection and see where it takes you.

7. Tell everyone you know that you’re writing a novel in November. This will pay big dividends in Week Two, when the only thing keeping you from quitting is the fear of looking pathetic in front of all the people who’ve had to hear about your novel for the past month.

8. Seriously. The looming specter of personal humiliation is a very reliable muse.

9. There will be times you’ll want to quit during November. This is okay. Everyone who wins NaNoWriMo wanted to quit at some point in November. Stick it out. See it through.

Above are the NaNo team’s words. They have them squinched together into just a few tips, but I spread it out. All this wisdom needs to be heard. (Find MANY years of pep talks here.)

Now, for my “Jenny” wisdom…

10. Wherever you are on your writing journey, DON’T STOP.

The best is always yet to come because we keep improving the more we do it. I heard Linda Howard speak at a writer’s conference in San Diego some years back and I’ve never forgotten her words, which meant so much to me.

“Everybody dreams,” she said. “But writers are special because they write down their dreams.

“As writers, we can do anything and be anyone. You can be astronauts or spies or time travelers. Writers can go to amazing places and build imaginary worlds for others to visit.

“The sad fact is that no matter how hard you try, the music and the magic of your dreams will never be equaled by the words you put on a page.

“Do it anyway.”

There is no “perfect moment” so stop waiting for it. Even on those days when you feel that all is lost, when you wonder why you ever believed that YOUR words were important, keep at it.

Do it because you have to. Do it because you need to. Do it because the act of sharing those words is more than most people will ever attempt.

DON’T STOP. Your story is calling you.

Do you participate in writing challenges? Do you do NaNoWriMo? For my WriMo pals, what do you do in advance of November to get ready? Enquiring minds always want to know these things here at More Cowbell!

Jenny