Skipping NaNoWriMo Will Save Your Liver And Your Relationships TheGloss

50,000 words in 30 days? Piece of cake.

It’s NaNoWriMo again, people! That month every year where budding novelists everywhere try their hand at writing something that will rival that of The Great Gatsby or Catcher in the Rye all within the mere 30 days that November has to offer.

It’s also that time of year when, if you’re hooked in to any form of social media, you’ll be forced to read the status updates of your novel-writing friends 24-hours a day as they piss and moan about word counts, missing them and the occasional elation of actually reaching a word goal for the day. It’s going to be super for everyone!

NaNoWriMo requires that every participant write at least 50,000 words of fiction, in novel form of course, by midnight local time on November 30th. If you break this down to how many words you need to reach a day, it’s only 1666.666 (see anything scary about this?) which, considering your devotion to the project or the creativity turning in your brain, could either be truly difficult or the easiest thing you’ve ever done.

But if you want to write a novel, why not do it on your own time? Why only give yourself a month? Do you think Fitzgerald wrote any of his novels in a month? Even the worst mind-numbing “chick lit” in the world probably takes longer than 30 days to pump out.

It’s a great idea to get people writing, but at what cost? Your liver? Your friendships? Your sanity? Writers are fucking crazy enough as it is, so why add to it with insane deadlines? DID THE CREATORS OF NANOWRIMO NOT SEE THE SHINING?

Hey, if you want to do it, that’s your choice, but here’s what you can expect.

lea

I love you for this. This whole thing makes me want to tear my hair out. What true literary value will a novel have if being rushed/pumped out in 30 days??
Eve

Guys, guys– even though the tagline is “write a novel in 30 days,” the actual point is to write a rough draft in thirty days. You’re allowed to spend all the time you want sketching and plotting it out beforehand, and all the time you want editing and revising it afterward. I remember reading somewhere that most professional novelists write 1000 words a day, so this pace is only a little faster than normal. I’ve done it twice, and am doing it again this year. I’ve also written a novel not connected to NaNoWriMo. Some people just do it for fun, and for some people it’s very helpful motivation to just get a draft going.

As far as all the stuff about moaning on Facebook about word count and getting excessively drunk– I’m sure a lot of people do do that, but it’s not necessary. You’ll always find people more interested in getting drunk and telling people that they’re artists/writers/whatever than actually doing the work. NaNoWriMo doesn’t really cause that.
Guest

Stephen King hashes out his rough drafs at an alarming rate and recommends it in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. He suggests writing daily. And shares with his readers that he writes 2,000 words per day. It’s not an unrealistic goal. If you’ve read anything behind the idea of NaNoWriMo, you’d understand the point of this one month of dedication is to get a continual creative flow going in the author’s mind. It may not work for everyone but it does work for many. Aside from the fact that NaNoWriMo helps boost creativity and productivity, many participants become involved in local groups. This networking opportunity is a great way for writers to learn from each other. I’m not sure why you’ve chosen to reference The Shining, but the actual novel (written by Stephen King) strays quite a bit from the novel in several areas. And neither of the two allude to NaNoWriMo. It’s a shame you feel “forced” to read your friends’ status updates as they embark on personal self-enrichment quests. I happen to enjoy reading, what you call pissing and moaning, updates of friends going vegan, losing weight, training for marathons and yes…NaNoWriMo, too. I think the “worst mind-numbing” thing I’ve read lately is this poorly written blog post.
Gina

Stephen King hashes out his rough drafts at an alarming rate and recommends it in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. He suggests writing daily. And shares with his readers that he writes 2,000 words per day. It’s not an unrealistic goal.

If you’ve read anything behind the idea of NaNoWriMo, you’d understand the point of this one month dedication is to get a continual creative flow going in the author’s mind. It may not work for everyone but it does work for many.

Aside from the fact that NaNoWriMo helps boost creativity and productivity, many participants become involved in local groups. This networking opportunity is a great way for writers to learn from each other.

I’m not sure why you’ve chosen to reference The Shining, but the actual novel (written by Stephen King) strays quite a bit from the movie in several areas. And neither of the two allude to NaNoWriMo.

It’s a shame you feel “forced” to read your friends’ status updates as they embark on personal self-enrichment quests. I happen to enjoy reading,–what you call pissing and moaning–updates of friends going vegan, losing weight, training for marathons and yes…NaNoWriMo, too. I think the “worst mind-numbing” thing I’ve read lately is your poorly written blog post.
- Porkchop
  
  She mentioned The Shining because Jack Torrence meets his word count by typing the same sentence around 10,000 times. Topical!
  
  What I love about NaNoWriMo is the the thrill of writing crap. It’s so freeing. I’m like a 5 year old putting drug store watercolor paint on the dog. YES.