It’s that time of year again; NaNoWriMo. For those of you not aware of this phenomena. National Novel Writing Month is something of a writer’s marathon. The event, which began in 1999, eggs on participants to crank out 50,000 words of a new project between November 1st and 30th. Writers from all over the world, both professional and amateur, participate. More information about NaNoWriMo here.
I know a lot of writers, newbies, and those with multi-book deals who participate. But not me. “What’s the matter Colonel Sanders, chicken?”
Maybe. And perhaps you’ll find that what follows is nothing more than a massive rationalization. But it’s my rationalization. I do have a project I’m working on currently. I’m about 8,000 words in. So this year NaNoWriMo comes at a pretty ideal time. This year, for the first time, I truly considered it. For about a minute. I’m not going to offer you any excuses about day jobs or kids (I have one of each). My reasons are about balance. For multiple reasons I believe I write best in small chunks.
- Small chunks makes writing a treat instead of a chore
- Small chunks gives me time to revise a bit as I go -smoothing out the rough edges before moving on.
- Small chunks means I have time to go for walks, read a few pages before falling asleep, watch some of my guilty pleasure tv shows.
- Small chunks means I’m not up at 3 in the morning obsessing about what my characters are doing.
- Small chunks has worked really well for me so far.
Barf. I can’t write “small chunks” any more. So there you have it. I think NaNoWriMo is great and really helps some people jump-start on to the page. But it’s not for me. At least not this year…
Ideas In Things 