That’s right. You read that right! National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo as we writers often call it) is not just a challenge. It is a dedication to your writerly self that you will complete 50,000 words in the month of November, joining with thousands of other writers across the globe. For some, the mere challenge of committing to writing is a win in and of itself. But to officially win, you must hit that 50K word mark before November 30th, at 11:59 pm. After not winning 2018, I was determined to not suffer that same fate this year.
It was rough. It was fun. It was work. It was joy. I learned a lot. It was…a journey, at best.
This year, I attacked NaNo with a solid plan. I outlined like I had the previous two NaNos, but this go round, I dug deeper into the characters. I took the time to really explore who was in my story and it made a world of a difference from my first two novels. As a novice, I am still learning, still honing the craft. I went to a romance genre con at my local library this summer, which actually inspired the idea for this NaNo project. At this RomCon, I took a workshop on building your characters. It was the first time in my novel journey that I learned how important the art of building your charactes truly is for your story. So I hopped on the most trusted search engines for writers (Pinterest and YouTube). I searched for character interviews and questionaires. The one I diverted to came from Sarra Cannon at Heart Breathings. Check out her HeartBreathings channel on YouTube to learn more about her outlining process. It truly made a differnce in my writing.
So after making the most solid plan I had made to date, I then mapped out my November. I planned for at least three write-ins to attend every week. I also found virtual write-ins to “tune” into. Plus, thankfully, this year, I had fewer distactions than years past. I had far fewer events, less outside commitments, and not the same work duties as before. So I was set!
Or so I thought.
Just when I thought I had everything figured out, I quickly discovered that my best laid plans were quickly unraveling. Last minute requests to cover this, stand in for the this person at this job, plan for this committee, mentor meetings, babysitting, birthday dinners. My writing time was quickly dwindling. Not to mention my nearly two hour daily commute for work was not helping. I was exhausted. I did not want to do it.
But then I went back to my why.
I kept reminding myself that this is a testement to the fact that I can set out and finish what I start. Therefore, I had to change my approach. I had to push through.
So when I was not able to make a local write-in, I still forced myself to hash out at least fifteen minutes worth of writing. When I had to babysit and my adorbale nephew diverted all my attention. I snuck in a paragraph here and there while he sat on my lap (which is the biggest struggle in the world as a ten-month-old is reaching out as far as you have your computer stretched and attempting to sabotage all of your words with gibberish that makes sense to them). On nights when I was exhausted from work and all I wanted to do was crawl in bed, still in my work clothes, I made myself go to Starbucks (even if they were closing in less than an hour) because I knew that writing at home was too tempting to give in to the desire to sleep.
I pushed through.
Not only that, I kept pushing, up until the last day. I went into the Thanksgiving holiday nearly 13,000 words behind. But I took every moment (riding on the plane, riding in the car, waking up before the rest of the family, staying back at the hotel while the family explored New Orleans, typing during dinner at Chuck E. Cheese and Oceana in New Orleans, and at the happy hours in the hotel) and hashed out as many words as I could.
I pushed through.
I learned that when you least feel the desire to accomplish your goal is when you have to push it the most. I had so many times I was just exhausted. I wanted to just watch that rerun of The Office for the 98th time. I wanted to just sit around and chat with family about the same things we’ve chatted about some many times before. I wanted to just curl up in bed and sleep. But the exhilaration of knowing that I was coming closer to my goal was a motivator. I had to prioritze. I could not just settle.
I had to push through.
So as the great poem says:
“When things go wrong as they sometimes will
When the road you’re climbing seems all uphill…
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t quit!”
And it was with this mantra, not quitting, that I won NaNo 2019!
Now on to becoming published…