Preptober Post #1: Making Time for NaNoWriMo
Happy Preptober, fellow NoWris!
(Yes I know you like to call yourselves "nano"s but we are Novel Writers, not National Novels.)
So, in the NaNoWriMo groups of which I am a member, I've been seeing a lot of posts lately stating a concern about "finding time" to do NaNoWriMo.
Let me remind you guys: It's 1,667 words per day. Two and a half pages.A you're a slow typist, but are able to write at a consistent pace, that's like... an hour and a half of writing. If you don't have a spare 1.5 hours, it's 2 45-minute sessions. If you don't have 2 free chunks of 45 minutes, do 3 sessions of 30 minutes, or 5 sessions of 18 minutes, or 9 sessions of 10 minutes.
But let's get very real.
It's not about having the time, is it?
Because if the word goal per day was 500, you could find a reason not to have the time. Even if the goal was 1 word per day, you could find a way to fill your day so that you didn't have the time.
It's not about time. It's about fear.
Fear of trying. Fear of failing. Fear of pursuing something you love, and finding it hard.
This is the beauty of NaNoWriMo. It's an event that aims to take away the barriers we put up between us and the thing we want to pursue. Writing a novel can be daunting-- so speed it up. Tackle it all at once. Power through so fast you barely have time to be scared. Yes, even if you're on vacation, and yes, even if there's a family holiday, and yes, even if you work full-time. Nobody else can solve your fear.
For me, NaNoWriMo's word count is lower than my personal goal that I aim for every day of the year, and I have two toddlers, a dwelling that needs to remain traversable, and a five-person-family that is somehow hungry every night, even though I swear I just fed them yesterday. I'm not trying to be like "ooh, look at me," I'm trying to say, LOOK at me. I'm a total mess, and if I can do it, you DEFINITELY can.
NaNoWriMo is just the beginning. This is an introduction to the work it takes to be a writer, pumping out words on some kind of schedule, and all those pesky little doubts and protests rearing their heads are good for you. They're the reason you haven't written that novel yet, (or that next novel yet). In fact, the Reddit post you wrote about being worried that you don't have time to write was 400 words long! That's a quarter of your goal!
Ok. I'm done kicking your butts.
Maybe the 1667 goal isn't doable for you. Maybe that's just not how you work. That's completely fine. Make your November goal 30,000 words, or 2,000. Aim to just finish the story, regardless of word count. Don't do it at all, if you don't want to, or adapt it to be achievable and meaningful for you. Do a test day or two, to find out what kind of chunk of time you personally will need to devote to achieve that goal.
We all have free time during the day. All of us reading this post certainly do, anyway. It's about making this project a priority. Type while eating your salad. Type instead of watching that one extra episode of Downton Abbey (Or Downtown Abby, which I imagine would be a very different show...)
I believe in all of you.
Do you plan to participate in NaNoWriMo this year? Tell me about your project in the comments!
(Yes I know you like to call yourselves "nano"s but we are Novel Writers, not National Novels.)
So, in the NaNoWriMo groups of which I am a member, I've been seeing a lot of posts lately stating a concern about "finding time" to do NaNoWriMo.
Let me remind you guys: It's 1,667 words per day. Two and a half pages.A you're a slow typist, but are able to write at a consistent pace, that's like... an hour and a half of writing. If you don't have a spare 1.5 hours, it's 2 45-minute sessions. If you don't have 2 free chunks of 45 minutes, do 3 sessions of 30 minutes, or 5 sessions of 18 minutes, or 9 sessions of 10 minutes.
But let's get very real.
It's not about having the time, is it?
Because if the word goal per day was 500, you could find a reason not to have the time. Even if the goal was 1 word per day, you could find a way to fill your day so that you didn't have the time.
It's not about time. It's about fear.
Fear of trying. Fear of failing. Fear of pursuing something you love, and finding it hard.
This is the beauty of NaNoWriMo. It's an event that aims to take away the barriers we put up between us and the thing we want to pursue. Writing a novel can be daunting-- so speed it up. Tackle it all at once. Power through so fast you barely have time to be scared. Yes, even if you're on vacation, and yes, even if there's a family holiday, and yes, even if you work full-time. Nobody else can solve your fear.
For me, NaNoWriMo's word count is lower than my personal goal that I aim for every day of the year, and I have two toddlers, a dwelling that needs to remain traversable, and a five-person-family that is somehow hungry every night, even though I swear I just fed them yesterday. I'm not trying to be like "ooh, look at me," I'm trying to say, LOOK at me. I'm a total mess, and if I can do it, you DEFINITELY can.
NaNoWriMo is just the beginning. This is an introduction to the work it takes to be a writer, pumping out words on some kind of schedule, and all those pesky little doubts and protests rearing their heads are good for you. They're the reason you haven't written that novel yet, (or that next novel yet). In fact, the Reddit post you wrote about being worried that you don't have time to write was 400 words long! That's a quarter of your goal!
Ok. I'm done kicking your butts.
Maybe the 1667 goal isn't doable for you. Maybe that's just not how you work. That's completely fine. Make your November goal 30,000 words, or 2,000. Aim to just finish the story, regardless of word count. Don't do it at all, if you don't want to, or adapt it to be achievable and meaningful for you. Do a test day or two, to find out what kind of chunk of time you personally will need to devote to achieve that goal.
We all have free time during the day. All of us reading this post certainly do, anyway. It's about making this project a priority. Type while eating your salad. Type instead of watching that one extra episode of Downton Abbey (Or Downtown Abby, which I imagine would be a very different show...)
I believe in all of you.
Do you plan to participate in NaNoWriMo this year? Tell me about your project in the comments!
Hmmmm, yes...guess there is no excuse! But now I’m behind...
ReplyDeleteThis is a great reminder to look for even small blocks of time. I just ordered a keyboard for my tablet. I usually work through lunch, but now those few minutes have become a treat I can look forward to every day.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a great November.
Yes, I plan to participate in--and succeed at--NaNoWriMo. I participated for three years before succeeding last year. Thank you for the reminder that "yes you can write on vacation." I do have a week's vacation but now I won't use that as an excuse.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to participate! but don't really know where to start - but you've got me started thinking about it... Any chance you could give us helps each day of November, like prompts, encouragement, or reminders? Nagging even?
ReplyDelete