The time has come for writers the world over to decide if they will take part in this year’s NaNoWriMo, National November Writing Month. This event encompasses sheer lunacy, the over consumption of coffee and chocolate and the wearing of comfy pants while desperately trying to reach that golden apple of writing the first draft of a 50,000 word novel.
Have I done it? Yes. Once.
Four years ago when I thought I was invincible and could do anything in terms of writing, I set out to write an urban fantasy thriller. I got my 50,000 words by the skin of my teeth, punching in the last few thousand on the last day, at the last-minute. It was a huge educational experience. Not only did I learn that it was possible to do it, but I discovered that when you are forced to write so much in such a little window, the story and the characters tend to stay alive in your mind during the entire month. They have to because your every thought during each waking moment centers around what is going to happen next in the story and how to translate those thoughts onto the page.
So, am I going to take part in NaNoWriMo this year? No and yes.
No, I will not be thrashing out a first draft of a new idea. Although the idea of doing so is enticing, I really need to get through this current draft of work in progress.
Yes, in honor of NaNoWriMo I want to finish what I started last year when I set out to finish the revisions of my WIP. I’ve been chipping away at it ever since. My goal last year was to get through the first 50,000 words of the revision during the month. I wasn’t successful. Turns out revision takes a whole lot more time than barreling through a first draft. However, I did fix all the broken bits in the first 30,000 words, which was a massive feat. I had made more changes to the characters than I realized.
During this entire last year I’ve been trying to work through the rest of the manuscript and I would love to finish it this November. There are still around 40,000 words left that need revising and it will be a lot of work to get through it all. The current total word count sits around 125,000 words. It’s been a very long process bringing this story from concept to finished story.
Will you be participating in NaNoWriMo this year?
My Literary Quest 
I’m (sort of) doing it. I’ve set a personal goal of 25,000 words, though. A lot of it is going to be writing character backgrounds and doing massive revision work, though. Why is revision so much harder than writing a first draft? 😌
125,000 words though… O.O I wish you mucho vielen luck! 👍
Woohoo! Do it! Revision is tougher because it somehow has to be better than what you started out with and that’s daunting. Nothing like pressure to stop up the muses.
No, but I wish everyone who is lots of luck!
good luck jodi.. we are proud of you.
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 16:21:28 +0000 To: higginson4@hotmail.com
Best of luck with your project. Sounds intriguing. I’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo, probably due to the fact I’m always writing anyway. I’ve been having more of a National Writing Year. I’ll be looking forward to reading about your results.
Yay, I hope I have results to share! The kids have been off track and it has made it impossible to do any work so far.