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 
Ok, the small chunks thing really cracked me up. 🙂
Nano’s a bit too crazy for me too, though I’m not saying I’ll never try it. The timing had found me in revision mood for the past couple of years, instead of drafting, so that also hadn’t helped.
I’m going to let someone else win the prizes because I had to look the answer up on the Internet. Good movie, though. 🙂
Thanks Tara! Yeah, the word chunks is really a killer!
I had to look up the answer on the internet, too, so I’m not that much of a smarty, I guess. NaNoWriMo time has always spurred me on to be productive but I’m talking no more than about 20 k a month if I’m lucky. I’m such a slow plodder that there’s no way I’d ever want to force myself to write 50 k in a month. That sounds painful. 😉
You guys are so modest! Take the candy and run!