This is my 9th year participating in NaNoWriMo, and this year I’m doing things a little differently.
See that? I ticked that box. I am now, officially, a NaNo Rebel.
I’d been hemming and hawing for weeks as to whether or not I should join in the festivities this year. I didn’t want to break my WriMo streak, but I also didn’t want to put my current manuscript revisions on hold to start a new first draft. After painful deliberation, I decided to just suck it up and try working on both projects simultaneously. Maybe it would be hard. Maybe it would be impossible; but really, who would care if I didn’t make it to 50k? It’s the effort that counts, right?
I created my project on the NaNoWriMo website on October 31st, and rolled up my sleeves in anticipation for the break-neck month ahead.
Now, it should be noted that I am a planner, or at least a ‘plantser’, and in all of my hemming and hawing I hadn’t done any outlining on this supposed new project. Day one went by with a paltry total of 83 words written. Day two saw a minute spike in word-count, bringing me to a grand total of 256. I was chugging along on my revisions, but completely lost in this new first draft. By the afternoon of day three I was starting to wonder if I had lost my frigging mind. Then I perused the personal achievement badges on nanowrimo.org, and I had an epiphany.
I had never considered working on anything other than a fresh novel draft to be a legitimate option for NaNoWriMo, but when I saw those jaunty little sunglasses something clicked. Suddenly, I saw working on revisions as a valid choice. Surely, there must be other rebels out there, and surely I would still be able to partake in 2016’s writeathon as a member of the community. I felt vindicated. And relieved.
So… what exactly am I doing this year?
I am writing like I normally write. I’m working on revisions of Steep, and drafting short stories as palette cleansers, and I’m writing blog posts and dumb poems and letters to friends, and I’m counting it all. Everything I write during the month of November, I’m adding to my word-count. Don’t ask me how I’m going to verify it, because I haven’t quite figured that part out yet, but I’m sure it’ll be a blast.
It’s been said before that the ultimate goal of NaNoWriMo isn’t to write a novel in 30 days but to develop the habit of writing every day. Maybe that’s true. Right now I’m thinking that maybe the ultimate goal of NaNoWriMo is to write your heart out in whatever way you see fit, and maybe, after all, the ultimate goal of NaNoWriMo can be different to different people and that not one of them is wrong.
So write on, you crazy diamonds.
Sydney More 