Why NaNoWriMo Is So Hard

Last night, my awesome book club went to a book signing. :)

We recently read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. Around the same time the library was sponsoring a community read of another one of her books, so they flew her in to give a speech and do a signing. So of course, we went. Natalie helped us all make matching t-shirts so we could be a team (actually, she 100% made mine--thanks again Natalie! :D)

It was really fun and now I want to go to more book signings. Unfortunately it doesn't look like there's any more coming up in 2016, but I'll keep my eyes open.

Anyway, during the author's speech she said something that really struck me about NaNoWriMo. This is a professional writer, right? Someone who does this for a living.

She said her goal is to write 1,500 words a day.

In order to complete NaNoWriMo, you have to complete 1,666 words a day.

No wonder I never finish! No wonder it's so hard! Life is just so busy. Oh well, it's too soon in the month to give up yet!

Throwing up words: My NaNoWriMo experience

This year marks ten years of me attempting to complete National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. They don't necessarily have to be good words... the key is quantity, not quality. Churn them out, and then go back and polish them up later.

I've never succeeded in completing this challenge. Part of it is time. To hit the goal, you should technically be writing 1,667 words a day--something that can be hard to squeeze in.

The other part is that I hate the raw writing that results. My usual process is to write a scene, then immediately rewrite it 5 or 6 times. A lot of time I'll end up with a couple versions that I like, and I have to debate which way I want the story to go. It's slow. It drags on. Just tossing words on the page without polishing them makes me nervous.

But... one of my favorite quotes is from author Shannon Hale: "Writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoving sand into a box so that later I can build castles." I'm trying to keep that in mind.

Just last night, I wrote a scene that was horrendous. Way too over the top dramatic (which is kind of weird, because usually I write comedy). So today I spent a lot of time thinking about it... and I came up with a way to do it better. :) So that flat out writing session is leading to better things. Progress!