Hello everyone, it’s been a while! I am so exciting that NaNoWriMo 2020 is just around the corner! It is easy to get caught in the controversial and turbulent grip of 2020, with all its chaos – but don’t let yourself be caught! Life is easier and better when we forget the craziness of 2020 for a while, I think, and just let ourselves…be. Or, as it may be for us – let ourselves write!
National Novel Writing Month is November of every year, and it’s tradition to write a rough draft of a novel, and to try to get to 50,000 words by the end of the month. NaNoWriMo is an official 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, and they believe in the power of creativity!
Every month, writers gather on forums and on their profiles all over the world, encouraging each other in their projects, forming groups according to region or genre, and just generally having an all-around good time.
There are fun little details to the whole process, such as badges for word count and other achievements, and a certificate of completion upon achieving 50,000 words.
What is the point of trying to write so many words so quickly, you ask? What if I don’t want to share my work, or like working slowly? There is something for everyone in NaNo! You can make buddies and form a group, or work alone. There is no requirement to share your work-in-progress, or book when it’s done.
As far as the point of it all – I personally like feeling like part of a club, it helps me to feel less lonesome in my writing. While I may not reach that 50,000, it feels good to working actively towards something, and setting a faster pace and being encouraged by others helps me to keep chugging along in my writing. Sometimes when I’m all alone with no one to bounce ideas or update on my progress, writing can feel really lonely, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve been so inactive and discouraged in my writing recently.
So – I’ve decided to participate in NaNoWriMo 2020, and I hope you will too! I’ll be working on getting out a completed rough draft of a historical YA novel, set during the American Civil War. Since my fantasy novel revision was bogging me down inside and out, I’m putting it aside for a while.
I’ve been working on chapter one of my new book already, and it’s felt so joyful and refreshing to work on something new! I’m excited!
Hope to see you on NaNo (nanowrimo.org) soon,
Chaitanya
P.S. I did NaNo before, and it was fun! I was able to complete a 50,000 words novel rough draft. I can’t say I’ve since picked it up to complete it, but it feels good knowing I could! I hope that banging out a rough draft quicker, with NaNo’s help again, will help me to revise my new book, and my old ones, with gusto!
Typing Madly 