Gearing up for NaNoWriMo

This is the first year I intend to attempt National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for those who are not in the know.

NaNoWriMo is a personal challenge in which a person writes 50,000 words (about 175 pages) of a novel during the month of November. According to its website (http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/about/whatisnano) the challenge begins on November 1 and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. on November 30. The site states, "Valuing enthusiasm and perserverence over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. This approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly."

This means that writers just write a rough draft of a story. They don't have to revise or edit, just write everything out. The goal is to get a story on paper, and then post-November, we begin the revision process. Those who write the 50,000 words successfully can submit the story for "official verification," be placed in the winner's circle, and receive a winner's certificate and web badge.

Writers don't have to sign in to the site in order to participate; they can do it on their own as a personal challenge. And I'm wary about posting the story online in the official forum because it may count as self-publication and, after revision, a publishing company may be averse to "reprinting" it, if accepted.

I heard of this challenge years ago while I was a sophomore in college, or around then. And every year since, though I've had stories in mind, I've never been able to participate. School or work always got in the way. Fifty thousand words is quite an endeavor in itself when one is used to short stories, or when one hasn't ever finished a novel idea. It's more of an endeavor when you squash what should take months into just one month.

I gained a little perspective about this challenge this past year while I wrote my thesis. The story itself is about 160 pages and is the first third of a novel, at least. It is also only 43,155 words. It took me about six months of strenuous, almost debilitating writing. Graduate school does this in general; it punches you down and grinds you under its heel and then builds you into something better. You feel exhausted and depressed because you no longer feel as if you're cut out for that education, and that you're no longer a writer. And somehow in the end it works out.

This particularly happens during the thesis months. But I had amazing support from my thesis director and the other professors on my panel, of which I was able to choose with their permission. My director was incredibly patient with me--she knew that life often takes precedence, especially when it deals with job changes and moving--but pushed just enough to keep me writing and turning in the right amount of work on time.

And I plan to squash all of that into one month without that support. Except for my boyfriend. He loves the idea that I'll be writing a novel again (though he has yet to read my thesis). And I have a few friends who will also attempt the challenge for the first time. Still, I worry that I'll consider the challenge, and maybe begin it, but then drop it a week in. I have to stick to it, this time. Without the workshop environment from school, I'm not as compelled to write a story. It isn't a necessity anymore, just a hobby.

Maybe this challenge, if I stick to it, will turn writing into a necessity again. I have so many stories in my head, it would be nice to get them down on paper before I forget things.