It's been over a year since I last wrote a post! Life is busy, that's for sure. But I got inspired to write this after an incredible an accomplishment: I finished National Novel Writing Month! In the past, I always had trouble finishing, even getting past the first week sometimes. It's been a dream of mine to finish NaNoWriMo, and I finally did it. Here's how!
I found out about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) going into my sophomore year of high school from a friend who equally loved to write as much as I did. I was intrigued by this idea of writing 50,000 words a month. At first, I was like, "Easy peasy, I love writing! I can totally nail this!". Boy, was I wrong. Writing is hard.
Every year the excuses built up. I have too much homework, I have choir practice, singing lessons, play rehearsal, roommate problems, writer's block, etc... There seemed to be no end. Who has time for writing if life is always getting in the way? Not to mention, NaNoWriMo is during one of the worst months of the year: November. College students have finals coming up and only a couple of weeks left to get their grades up, Thanksgiving food comas that leave you brain dead, and being bombarded by family members asking "Why are you writing this novel thing again?" Thanksgiving is busy. I've read No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by NaNoWriMo Founder Chris Baty quite a few times, and I have never found a reason as to why he chose November of all months to hold NaNoWriMo (which, by the way, is a good, funny read, and rather helpful when embarking on this arduous task).
That being said, Novembers are usually the worst month of the year for me to be writing anything. Or at least when I try to attempt NaNo. The world is always out to get me during November when I'm writing my novel. You have ten group projects due next week! Everybody hates you! You're finally going on dates! The list goes on, and I'm certain that people have their own to add when life decides to try to distract you from your goal. But when I look back, I thought that those stupid things taking over and getting in the way (like my emotional health) were more important than my writing, when in reality they were just excuses not to write.
Now, I'd give tips like a normal human being who writes a blog, but my experience completing NaNoWriMo wasn't achieved through a step-by-step process. No, mine was a quest. It could probably be considered one of the epics like The Lord of the Rings or Homer's Illiad and The Odyssey. I may or may not be over exaggerating that.
The first day, I nailed it. I wrote 2,242 words. I downloaded a free 30-day-trial of Scrivener which I heard rave reviews about. I never used it after that day. I'm not much of a computer-writing-program person when I write. There are way too many distractions on the screen for me to focus on my writing. It always ends up with me going words words words words words ooh what's this button over here do? I have the attention span of a gnat, which also doesn't help keep me interested in what I'm writing currently.
I changed my novel 4 times within the first 2 day. My heart really wasn't into anything that I was writing and that is one of the most important things when participating in NaNoWriMo. If you don't like what you're writing, then maybe you should either 1. throw it out or 2. change the direction. I've never finished a single thing I've ever written after I hit the age of 14. Now, I didn't throw out each word count I had when I chose a different story and decided to start over, I added it to the word count. Since keeping focus on one novel is currently difficult for me, I figured that I should take this one step at a time. This year it's simply write everyday and write 50,000 words in one month, no matter what it was. Next year, the goal will be to write 50,000 words of one thing, maybe even finish something. It was a goal and one that I was willing to commit to.
I kept at it every single day. And every single day I would always write just a little more than the desired word count so I could stay a little ahead. I hoped that when it came to Thanksgiving I could feel confident enough to take a day off and not worry about catching up. Two weeks in, I was on fire. Nothing was interfering with my writing that much. I made sure to get my homework done on time and then write, no matter how late it got. However, by the end of week two, I thought the worst happened. My computer started breaking. Blue screens of death, restarting itself, freezing, operating system not found...it was bad. I sent it in for a diagnostics test and I was left computerless for a week. Thank goodness I was able to save all of my documents onto a USB stick.
But that didn't stop me. I wrote by hand, wrote on my tablet, wrote on my Mom's laptop, and stayed at the library until midnight for half a week to do homework and write my novel on Google Docs. I didn't let my computer breaking stop me from achieving my goal. I didn't let it become an excuse. I figured worse things could happen.
And they did. Going into the third week, I was still on top of my word count. I even hit a breakthrough with my novel. I found the perfect perspective, the perfect main character (whom I kept changing out every other day because she just didn't seem quite right), and the perfect era for my story to be based off of. Writing it felt natural and reaching the daily word count was quick and easy. And then I got a concussion.
It happened in the most Jessica way possible. I was bending down to put on a sock, and my head whacked right down onto the bed post.
But they weren't just any socks. They were rainbow knee-high toe socks.
It hurt. A lot. And long story short, I went to the emergency room, they told me my head was okay and I just needed to get some rest for a while. But do you know what else comes with getting a concussion? NO SCREENS!! I got set back 6 whole days because I couldn't handle looking at a simple computer screen without getting a headache. Not to mention, I also needed to get a new computer. So 5 days after getting my concussion I was well enough to at least write a day's worth by hand. By the time I was able to write my novel on a computer again, it was already a couple days off from Thanksgiving.
I don't remember much of the past several weeks, especially when I was still recovering from my concussion, but I do remember saying this every single day, "I'm going to get so behind on my word count for NaNoWriMo." I was about 5-6 days behind and I didn't think I would be able to finish so late in the game. I had less than a week to make up the lost time. All of my friends told me to just add the days on at the end of the month, it would still count, I had a real excuse not to write anything. But I tossed aside that idea. No, I said, I want to finish this even if it means doubling my word count from now to the very last day. It was the principle. It was setting up a goal and reaching it. If I added the days on at the end of the month I wouldn't be able to get that winner screen on November 30th. I wouldn't feel right buying a winner's shirt if I didn't actually write 50,000 words in a month. I've wanted to win this so much and I was so close, I couldn't give up now. Winning NaNoWriMo was an actual dream for me. Who am I if I gave up my dreams, even the small ones?
Over break, I doubled my word count. At least, I tried to. I had an off day where I think I only wrote around 500 (we all get those days, don't worry), and one day I wrote only about a day's worth. But it was the last two days when I realized I had over 10,000 words left. If I wanted to finish on time it meant that I had to write over 5,000 words each day. Was I ready to rise up to the challenge? You bet I was! And I did it! I tuned everything out, including my stupid inner editor, and I wrote the heck out of my story!
When I finally validated my word count and that winner's page popped up, I began to cry. I had never felt more proud of myself. Given that my novel wasn't all one story, most of it was. And that was the most I had ever written for one story. That was an accomplishment in itself. I bought myself a winner's shirt saying I deserved it. I battled broken broken computers, late night library writing, off-days, and even a minor concussion. I didn't let anything become an excuse.
That being said, yes, life does get in the way. Excuses do happen, and sometimes writing just seems like the last thing that you want to do. I remember last year I was still battling the depression from a funeral, and some of my roommates fighting. When it comes to excuses, your health always comes first. I didn't have to write double, even triple, the word count to catch up because I had a concussion. I probably should have taken the extra days and relaxed some more. Don't push yourself and don't overdo it. You come first. I had a hard month, and I'm pretty sure others had it harder. The point is, you're happy with what you accomplished. Never let it be said that you didn't try.
The one thing that I learned about NaNoWriMo is that even if you don't finish the actual book once you get to the 50,000 word goal, the point is to get you into the habit of writing every day. For someone like me who really wants to be a writer, this is the best thing you can do. If you write every day, your writing gets better. If you write a little bit of a book every day, you'll eventually finish it. Being a writer isn't about how many books you've published. You are a writer if you write. Write blog posts, articles, journals, novels, poetry, plays...Never stop writing. No excuses.
