Just Keep Writing!
Though I completely dropped out of blog land for the month of November, I kept on writing. I participated in the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) competition where the goal is to write 50,000 words in a month toward a novel. I wrote about it here near in the end of October. After a pretty rigorous writing schedule that ranged from 2,400 words per day to 3,112 words per day (I didn’t write on weekends, and I finished before Thanksgiving), I am proud to say I exited the competition a winner. Along the way, I learned a lot about myself as a writer and picked up some great tips.
You Don’t Need Inspiration All the Time
This might sound contrary to what you might have heard about writing, but you don’t need inspiration, at least not all the time. I used to believe that I had to feel inspired in order to write. The odd bit is that the act of writing itself is inspiring. For the competition, I made myself sit down at my computer at a specific time each day regardless of whether or not I felt like I had anything to write. More times than not, I warmed up each day and found myself buzzing along developing my story. On some days, I had no idea what would happen to my characters, but much like life itself, the story just moved in its own direction. I would start writing and make decisions about my characters on the fly.
Don’t Be Afraid to Write Total Crap
One of the things NaNoWriMo promotes is the acceptance that your first draft will be really bad. Once you accept that the initial draft is going to be terrible, your mind allows you to write freely. You shut off the internal editor and just write. Throughout the competition, I reminded myself that inaccuracies and the writing style itself would be shaped and corrected in the second and third drafts. The first draft involves assembling the skeleton. Everything else can be added and improved later.
50,000 Words is Not a Novel
Though the competition’s minimum accepted manuscript length is 50,000 words, that word count does not correlate with novel length, which is closer to 90,000 words. Knowing that I wasn’t writing the entire story in the month of November allowed me to develop my story at the pace that felt right to me. Beyond November, my goal is to write another 50,000 words by January 15th which would bring my word count to 100,000, and I’m well on the way at a total of 62,136 words as of today. Once I finish the first draft, it’s back to the drawing board as I rewrite the story as a second draft.
Writing Makes You a Writer
Before beginning my career break, I wanted to be a writer. I had fond memories of being a good writer in my younger years, but I also hadn’t done anything to foster my writing skills. The simple truth is that writing makes you a writer. Wanting to be a writer does not. The simple act of sitting down and putting words on paper, no matter how clever or how rough, makes you a writer. Until NaNoWriMo, I didn’t know I could make myself write so many words each day. Though I cannot say what I’ve written is particularly good, I can say that the bones of a good story are there, and continued writing will only make it better. I know now that I have the discipline to continue writing on a set schedule even if I work full-time doing something else.
Just Keep Writing
If I can boil the lessons of NaNoWriMo into one phrase, it would be “Just Keep Writing.” Turning off the internal editor and spilling the words onto the page is good for you. Having feelings of doubt? Just keep writing. Feeling uninspired? Just keep writing. Want to be a writer? Just keep writing. Want to write a novel? Just keep writing. Want to be a blogger? Just keep writing. Having problems with your characters? Just keep writing. Write your way through your problems. Write your way through your thoughts. Write your way through the bad writing so that you can find the good. Just keep writing! That’s what I intend to do. Whether my trashy little novel ever sees the light of day or not, at least I am making the effort, and I just keep writing.
