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NaNoWriMo
10000 words into a 50000-word challenge
I have been on a writing frenzy this week. Any moment that I get to myself (even better when it’s sixty minutes worth of moments or more) I have forced myself to sit and write. It has been both easy and difficult so far but I am committed to the challenge of NaNoWriMo.
For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is an annual writing challenge that occurs in November. Participants aim to write a novel draft of 50000 words in 30 days. It can be any genre or subject matter. The NaNoWriMo website offers resources to help with planning (this is encouraged during ‘Preptember’ and October). To achieve 50000 words in one month, you need to write an average of 1667 words per day. This seems like a daunting task at first but when you break it down, it’s an achievable one.
I spent several weeks planning out my novel in October (Preptober? Plot-tober?). The first time I tried NaNoWriMo, I had no plan and my novel fell apart after 16000 words. Currently, I have written 11736 words and have mostly been hitting the daily word quota. Having a plot structure and character development to follow definitely helps so I’m feeling confident that I can complete my draft by the end of the month.
The hardest thing so far has been getting started. Despite having pages and pages of detailed planning notes, the first time I…
