NaNoWriMo Approaches

National Novel Writing Month begins November 1.  For three years, 2005-2007, I spent frenzied hours typing every day to "win" NaNoWriMo, as it's affectionately known.  And win I did, all three times.  Just to enhance my accountability, I even blogged about the experience of NaNo.  In 2007 I wrote my novel in Second Life, as my alter ego, along with other Second Life residents.  You can see photos of that adventure here.

 Two of my NaNoWriMo Winner Badges

Speed writing has its merits:  No over-analyzing, no delaying, no procrastination of any kind when you must write 50,000 words in 30 days (while working a full time day job).  Words on the screen, saved in the file.  They're all that matters.  Competing for volume against your NaNo buddies.  But something was lacking.

I wished for the leisure to consider and to craft.  Because I couldn't imagine jotting up another 100,000 words that languished unconsidered for the following year, I opted out of NaNo in 2008 and 2009.  The NaNo years proved to be prudent practice, yes.  Excellent authoring, hardly.

If I was going to be doing NaNo this year, I should have begun planning my novel during October.  I have not.  This year, during the month of November, I hope to be writing a memoir instead.  Possibly writing the first draft by hand, to slow the process down.  Thinking deeply requires that kind of consideration. This book won't be a sprint.  It'll be a marathon.  It won't be "done" on Nov. 30.  If I'm lucky, I'll have a reasonable, readable draft in six months' time.

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