First let me tell you a little bit about what the National Novel Writing Month (or to those of us in the “know” NaNoWriMo) is all about. Every year in the lovely month of November a curious band of merry fellows huddle around cooling cups of zebra mochas and double extra foam lattes to churn out the great American novel. Now all this talk of this being a “national” event and even the description of the ‘great American’ novel is quite the misnomer as NaNoWriMo has indeed gone international. Participants from across the globe pull out their laptops, Macbooks and netbooks (and some even pull out old fashioned pen and paper) to get in on the fun and torture.
The rules are simple: you have exactly 30 days to write a 50,000 word novel starting at midnight on November 1 and writing all the way to 11:59:59 on the eve of November 30. The 50K words is the distinction between calling something a novella (40,000 words) and a novel. We Nanos know that November is for writing and December is for editing which leads me to reason #1 why I won’t win this year:
1. Unrealistic expectations of myself. If I learned anything while doing NaNoWriMo this year it’s that I cannot expect to be perfect at this. Every novel goes through editing and re-editing to the point where most of the original written words are not even recognized. I really need to remember that writing is not a process but a journey and that even though I still screw up my whos and whoms despite the Elements of Style by Strunk and White, I will have time after November to fine-tune and even continue writing.
2. I have a small child. Well, this is a given, but I have to mention that as important as my writing is to me and as much as I take the utmost pleasure from being able to sit down for two hours and crank out 3,000 words, I enjoy spending time with my daughter more. I sometimes tell my husband that I’m going to sit down to write for an hour and end up 30 minutes later on the floor with the two of them laughing and giggling like banshees. I would not have it any other way.
3. It’s NOVEMBER, people! My most favorite month of the year because the holidays are here! There are presents to be bought and trees to decorate! I have turkeys and pies to bake and about 10 lbs of potatoes to peel. I love Thanksgiving, it’s my favorite holiday and it’s really time consuming.
4. We are taking our 10 month old to Disneyland for the first time – traveling while trying to crank out 1,600 words a day? Not happening.
Well, there is still two more weeks left to Nano so I will continue writing while I still can but I am resigned to not win this year, my first year. I do want to eventually finish what I started plot holes and dead ends be damned. With that said here are some reasons why I WILL win Nanowrimo NEXT year:
1. I started one day late this year and although it doesn’t sound like much time to have lost I could have spent some time mentally preparing for NaNoWriMo instead of just jumping in and signing up and writing with reckless abandon, even if that’s what we’re supposed to do, I think it would have worked well for me to have at least outlined the story before starting to write with no roadmap.
2. Writing is addictive. Trust me, even if you’re not a “writer” per se, you will enjoy the fast-paced nature of NaNoWriMo and the reward, even if you don’t win. The reward definitely far outweighs the craziness and obscurity! It makes me happy to no end when I’m sitting in a Starbucks with my laptop and someone sees my NaNoWriMo sticker and gives me the thumbs up or when I see a little girl ask her daddy what it is and he knows and tells her and she gets EXCITED for me. Priceless, I tell you.
3. It’s in my blood. I can tell you a story, I know that much about me. I might still screw up my whos and whoms (Strunk and White, you are dead to me, ptooey!) I know when I want to tell you something and I can do it better written than trying to have me articulate it verbally. I don’t even use words like “articulate verbally” when I speak. It’s more like, “Duuuuuude…” and “OMG!” Yes, I say the letters, “O,” “M,” and “G” it annoys the crap out of my hubby.
4. Next year I will also try to drum up more excitement about it from my friends and colleagues. Surely there are others out there in my blogsphere and on my Facebook list that love to write? I can’t be the ONLY one. Well, if you are even thinking about it, I will encourage you here right now, a year before it starts to sign up with me. I need more writing buddies and it will be our excuse to get together, drink coffee and whip out our laptops at Starbucks and pretend to write while we pull up hilarious YouTube videos to watch (Ninja Cat, anyone?).
And lastly the reason why I will win NaNoWriMo NEXT year is because it’s been far too long (26 years) since I completed my last book (a great story called “My Dog Lucky” which won a young writer’s award and was self-illustrated) and I really need a great follow up if not for my 36-year old self then for my 10-year old self who was so proud of her book about a silly dog.
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