As November approaches more and more people are gearing up to participate in NaNoWriMo. But what is it? Well, the name is short for “Nation Novel Writing Month,” and as the name implies it’s for writing an entire novel, beginning to end, in November. Last year I participated, but this year I’m sitting out. In two years, I’ve turned out one second draft and two first drafts, so I should focus on getting one of those projects further along.
The other issue is, I’m not ready to move onto another new world just yet. Worldbuilding takes time, and while I have plenty of initial ideas, I don’t have anything near ready enough to start on November first. I was able to do two first drafts this year mostly because one is a sequel and the other, well I had already done most of the world building for years ago. All I had to do was plug in a few final details before I could start.
Word-count wise, it’s about 1667 words a day. My daily word count goal sits at 1000 words but a lot of days I do 2000 or more, so that’s not the issue for me. The issue is I’m just not set up. This year (as it has been for a lot of folks) has been incredibly difficult. Pounding out two 35k word count drafts in it has kept me afloat, but considering I still have a manuscript with 78k words to finish, as well as all the work those other drafts need, I should focus on one of those.
Having said that, the years I’ve participated have been an absolute blast, and I wish everyone playing along good luck. Whether you finish, or whether you don’t, you should celebrate the milestones you pass along the way. Writing a novel of any length is an intensive process, so give yourselves a pat on the back for anything you get done. You owe it to yourself.