You won't
hear much from me in November, although my regular blogs will continue with
stuff already written and saved. Why? I've decided to once again compete in
National Novel Writing Month, with the intention of losing.
It's a throwback to my high school days in Physical Education class, something
I excelled in losing ... in. I did become adept at finding hiding places around
the gym. Under the bleachers was always popular with us nerd types.
National Novel Writing Month, shortened to NaNoWriMo to save typing fingers,
has its own official website. My account is here: https://nanowrimo.org/participants/mark-r-hunter.
Guess I'd better update it. The idea is to write an entire novel--or at least,
50,000 words of it--in one short month, which happens to be November. Why
November?
Why not?
It's not the best month, what with American holidays and all. I would have
picked January. What else is there to do in January? Go outside? Ha.
A bigger question: Why do it at all?
Some writers start that Great American Novel, but never finish. Maybe they
peter out because they don't manage their time well, or get sidetracked. Maybe
they're the type who edit so obsessively they never finish that first chapter,
page, or, in extreme cases, sentence. They go over it again and again, and in
the end ... don't end.
But the first draft is allowed to suck. Nobody else has to see it, ever.
NaNoWriMo is designed to be that butt kick that forces writers to forge through
and finish their first draft. They don't have time to edit: To make fifty
thousand words in thirty days they have to write almost 1,700 words a day! Go
to it, get that first draft done, and edit later.
My own writing habit is to sit down and go over what I wrote last time, to get
me back into the groove, and I do usually edit then. Just the same, I've won
NaNoWriMo three times: With Summer Jobs Are Murder (formerly Red Is
For Ick, and don't I regret that), Fire On Mist Creek, and The
Source Emerald. Since then all three of those novels have been edited,
polished, and are trapped in submission hell.
(No, I don't think my NaNo projects are cursed.)
So, I'll stick to the habits that worked with me in the past. As a result, I'll
consider myself lucky to get 40,000 words done, but I know from experience that
once I get that far, I'll be able to power though and finish--maybe in January.
And honestly, any writer who takes their shot, works hard, and emerges with
something to show for it, wins NaNoWriMo no matter how many words they get in..
What's my new book about? It's a holiday-themed romantic comedy: Christmas
on Mist Creek.
Yes, that's right: I'm writing a sequel to a book that hasn't even been
published yet.
Find
our books at:
http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R
Hunter"
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Sometimes you have to write wherever you can. |
Remember, every time you pass on a book, a typesetter loses his case. Don’t cause all-caps.
Have fun!
ReplyDeleteIt can be a slog--but a hard day's writing is better than a good day doing most other things!
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