On NaNoWriMo.
For the newbs, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.
The whole point is to write a 50.000 word novel during November, and as they say put quantity over quality.
It must be said that I’m awful at writing long things, and even worse at being responsible with my writing, so this is quite an exercise for me… And a completely suicidal goal.
I’ve been participating in NaNo since 2005, when I got a recommendation from The Other Kai and joined. At that point, it was November 1st. 2005, and I had no plot and no ideas at all.
Joining in a whim, I was surprised to see I managed to write 10k words. The plot for that novel survives and became a prequel for the plot of one of my non-NaNo writing pet projects. That project eventually became a RolePlay setting. In the end, it was profittable.
My second year, 2006, I won.
Winning NaNo was probably one of the best experiences of self fulfillment I had, after things like getting a Cool Job and learning the tricks to get along with my family.
In short, I was ridiculously happy.
The novel, a rewriting of an old plot I had back in 2003, had about 51k words. The writing was rushed, and some plot points seemed to make no sense, being that the book was the third part of a trilogy, but it helped me to understand that I can overcome any obstacles in my writing.
In 2007, I started writing and had to leave the project early because of job-related woes. I wrote 15k. However after the win in 2006 I didn’t feel that bad. I knew that 2008 would be a new year with lots of exciting new goals, and that the chance to write a novel would come back.
And here is november again.
I’m all fired up and ready to kill my fingers and make my creativity work hard, I’m getting rid of my two year long writer’s block.
That is what NaNo means after all. Showing yourself that you can do it, that writing is not only a job for others, but something anyone can do with the correct motivation.
This year, I promised myself I would aim for something more “publishable” even when I don’t have that much interest in getting published (and on top of all, I’m writing in spanish, modern fantasy books never sell that well when in spanish, haha).
More amazing news will come the next days, Unpredictable is alive :D