NaNoWriMo

I decided to do NaNoWriMo this year. That's National Novel Writing Month for all you non-writers out there. It's exactly what it sounds like: the month in which everyone in the nation frantically tries to write a novel of 50,000 words in thirty days.

I've tried to do NaNoWriMo before. Viola and the Fearless One and I actually formed a kind of NaNoWriMo support group that met (one time) on my bedroom floor.

It was not a successful support group, and NaNoWriMo was not a successful endeavour. I ended up getting really stressed out that I wasn't meeting my self-set deadlines and ended up accomplishing almost nothing.

I think the most stressful thing about NaNoWriMo is that, realistically, to accomplish your goal you have to write every day. Unless you want to write, like, eight hours on three days instead. Which I cannot do. Unless I want to spontaneously combust. Which I don't.

The last time I finished a novel, I did it using a formula that someone recommended in an article that I read once. The formula is this: don't write every day. In a week, take one day for God, one day for yourself, and give the other five days to writing.

This formula worked really well for me, so I decided to use it again for NaNoWriMo. Therefore, I am doing an abridged version of NaNoWriMo, where I did not make a goal to write 50,000 words but to write one page a day, five days a week during November. I will not finish any novels, but I'll get a good start on something that I can continue to work on.

It's been awhile since I've written any fiction. The process goes something like this:

1. Write two sentences.

2. Delete two sentences.

3. Write three paragraphs.

4. Take a break.

5. Reinterpret the secondary character's motivation.

6. Rewrite one-and-a-half of the three paragraphs.

7. Say, "This is the best thing I've ever written!"

8. Eat a snack.

9. Reread what you've written.

10. Say, "This is the worst thing I've ever written!"

11. Read something else for inspiration.

12. Have brilliant idea.

13. Write seven brilliant paragraphs.

14. Discover plot hole within the seven brilliant paragraphs.

15. Contemplate suicide by jumping into plot hole.

16. Pray.

17. Cry.

18. Solve plot hole.

19. Use SAT-level word.

20. Second-guess self and wonder if you have used SAT-level word correctly.

21. Look up SAT-level word's definition just to make sure.

22. Write three more paragraphs.

23. Conduct research using Wikipedia.

24. Write another paragraph.

25. Realize you have finished your quota for the day.

26. Celebrate.

27. Remember all the other things you have to do today that you have been neglecting.

28. Cry.

And so on and so forth.

Somehow, I made it through the first week intact. Well, here's to another three weeks and then some! We'll see how it goes.