 Guest post by Tonya Spitler NaNoWriMo: What I learnedFor years I have listened to author friends talk about their experiences taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge. Each year I shake my head and cringe. It sounded so impossible. Up until about a year ago, writing was a dream of mine. Something I had always wanted to do, but never felt confident enough to start. Sound familiar? This year I decided I would jump on the NaNoWriMo challenge bus. Here is what I have learned along the way. PreparingI am somewhere between a pantser and a plotter, so I'm going to call myself a plantser. I need to have an idea of where I am going, or I get stuck in the middle and walk away. To set myself up for success, I sat down and brainstormed several ideas. I discarded ones that seemed to need more research than I could handle in thirty short days and came down to one pretty solid idea. Once I had my idea, I started jotting down what I thought might happen, who the characters were, where I wanted the story to end up, etc. This was the easiest part of the process for me. Finding the TimePlan in place, I figured I could squeeze time in before my kids woke up, or maybe after they went to bed. How hard could writing 1,667 words a day be? After all, I had a plan - sort of- who needed a set time? Turns out I did. Some days I sat and 2,000 plus words would flow easily from my fingers to the page. Other days, I'd stare at the screen and wonder why on earth I publicly announced this crazy plan. Much like needing a rough idea of where the book was going, I needed to have a time devoted to writing that was quiet and distraction free. I could never quite guess when my kids would wake up, and some nights, they stayed up later than I did. (Teens am I right?) So, I decided to block off time. I would let everyone know I was writing, and unless the house was on fire, or someone was seriously hurt, they needed to figure it out until I was done. Time doesn't just appear, you have to make it happen. Losing the FaithAbout halfway through, I started to really question my sanity. What on earth was I thinking trying to write a book! I'm no *insert name of crazy bestselling author here*. I am me, a mom, wife, business owner with a dream. No one would want to read this rubbish anyway, right? Self-doubt crept in and sunk its sharp teeth right into my sensitive writing spots. Feelings of inadequacy and imposter syndrome quickly took the wheel. I leaned heavily on my author friend group for encouragement during this time. If you don't have a group of authors who write in a similar genre to bounce ideas off of and be encouraged by, I highly suggest you go get one. Right now. I'll wait. Okay, I won't wait, but seriously look into critique groups, author Facebook groups, or reach out to your favorite authors. You never know where these people might be hiding. Having a group of people to support you and who understand this journey you are on is vital to success. Not just during NaNoWriMo, but throughout your writing career.  Finishing StrongI won't pretend like all 50,000 words flowed from my fingers in a beautiful arrangement that left me with a #1 Best Seller on my hands. That's not how it works unfortunately. At least not for most people. I *did* end up with a pretty good first draft though. So, what did I learn?
NaNoWriMo is not for everyone. The pressure of hitting a certain number of words each day can be overwhelming for some. For me, it was a great exercise in getting from the beginning to the end. Not stopping and getting sidetracked by other ideas and research was a challenge I had to overcome. It was great to have some experience with writing on a deadline as well. Will I do it again next year? Not sure, it was tough to get done with the holiday season starting up, but that feeling of accomplishment... NOTHING BETTER!
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AuthorArielle Haughee is the owner and founder of Orange Blossom Publishing. Categories
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