It’s November. A time of turkeys, colored leaves, pumpkin spice everything, football, cooler temperatures … and novel writing. If you haven’t heard, November is actually National Novel Writing Month, or NaNo for short. It’s a big deal.
It’s the time when people commit to putting their butt in a chair every day and writing 1,666 words each day. Now, 1,666 words per day doesn’t sound like a lot, but at the end of the month that’s 50,000 words. For some stories, that’s a novel. For others, it’s the start of a novel. The important thing is that you got your butt in a chair and churned out words. You did the thing that, until that moment, you were convinced just couldn’t happen.
I’ll admit that I attempt to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) every November. However, I am horrible at NaNo. No, really. I am. Almost every November, I am editing something rather than starting a brand new rough draft. Or I’m working on multiple project – like this year.
But to me, the point of NaNo isn’t hitting that word goal every day (though it does feel pretty awesome when you do). The point is committing to writing a book. It’s carving out time every day to get your butt in that damn chair and writing something.
Yes, I technically fail at NaNo every year. I start strong and fade as other deadlines and things come up. Does that mean I can’t write a book? Hell no. I’ve got well over a dozen completed that argue that I can write a book.
For me, NaNo is a reminder that I need to commit to my craft. That I need to get my butt in a chair and write even when I don’t feel like writing or when all the words hitting the page are pure crap. (Do you know what’s harder to edit than crap words? A blank page.)
So… that’s my call to action. It doesn’t matter if you hit the word count. You gotta just get your butt in the chair every freaking day and work.
What am I writing for NaNo this year? I’ve got quite a few projects in the hopper this year so I’m spreading my words across all of them most likely. Top projects are:
- Devour – Book 4 of the Unbreakable Bonds story – I’ve already got a Lucas and Andrei chapter done and I’m so happy.
- Novelette for Snow and Jude – We are going to be putting out the Unbreakable Stories: Snow short story collection this winter and we are writing a brand new novelette to include in the collection.
- Christmas Novella – I have a Christmas novella (Walking on Thin Ice) coming out November 22 and I want to get started on next year’s Christmas story now.
- Secret Project for my niece – My 9-year-old niece has requested that I write a book for her. She even sent me a rough plot synopsis. I’ve been trying hard to clear my schedule to sneak this in. I’ve never written for her age group so this will be an interesting adventure.
If you want to follow my progress on NaNoWriMo, my username is JocelynnD.