Last November I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) for the first time. On November 1, online participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel, for seasoned writers who simply need a little accountability for meeting a deadline, and for anyone else in between.
Despite multiple distractions including my brother’s wedding as well as the sudden loss of a dear friend, I managed to complete my goal of writing 50,000 words during the month of November. This was by far my biggest accomplishment in such a short period of time when it comes to writing. I have a very hard time staying disciplined and don’t usually keep a consistent word count going. Life simply gets in the way and no matter how much I love putting words to the page, I don’t always make it a priority. But having a daily word count goal and that large goal of meeting the 50,000 words at the end of the month was more motivating that I could have imaged. I loved the experience, reveled in the feeling of victory after meeting my goal, but soon I realized a fatal flaw in how NaNoWriMo is set up.
While 50,000 words is a large amount and a challenge for most writers to accomplish in one month, it is not enough to complete a full length novel. The length of novels varies by genres and authors, but the average novel runs around 90,000 words. So in all actuality, unless you go above and beyond the goal word count of 50,000 words, which some do, you don’t actually write a novel in a month.
Which is exactly what happened in my case…
I reached my word count goal, I accomplished what I’d set out to do, but my novel wasn’t finished.
I actually started NaNoWriMo already about 20,000 words into my novel. With the month of November completing the 50,000 words this put me at about 70,000 words. Looking at where I was in my story I realized I had about another 10,000 to 20,000 words to go in order to finish the book…
Which I didn’t accomplish until April of this year. I had lost steam and it took several months to refocus enough that I could finish the draft.
So this year, I need a new strategy. I’ve considered several options including increasing my word count for the month of November, as many do, some completing their 50,000 words in the first weekend. But this seems nothing short of insane for the amount of time I can allow myself to devote to writing. Not to mention I’m a slow writer even when it is only the first draft. (I literally must repeat over and over in my head, it doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s only a first draft). Another option would be starting the novel early as I did this past year, though not intentionally. I simply hadn’t decided to participate in NaNoWriMo until I had already started the first draft of my next book. My third option I’ve thought about is giving myself the goal of continuing the daily word count goal through December in order to complete the draft by the end of the calendar year. This would have its own challenges as for most, December is a very hectic time of the year.
I haven’t hammered out my plan just yet, but I do know I plan to participate in NaNoWritMo this November for the second time. But this time, my goal isn’t to write 50,000 words. It’s to complete a full first draft.
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