November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! I’ll admit that I’m currently not writing a new novel to celebrate the month, however, I do have ideas stewing for a new one. 🙂
It’s pretty tough to write an entire novel in one month, but doable if you write every day and just let the words flow. Participating in an event like this can help focus the minds and importantly provide the momentum to help writers complete a project. Often the hardest part is editing and then sharing the work with people who aren’t related to you or who don’t already love you. 🙂 My latest novel, Christmas at Maplemont Manor, took me probably four or five months end-to-end. My first novel, The Magic of Cape Disappointment, took much longer like closer to two years.
Usually when NaNoWriMo rolls around onto the calendar, I’m usually asking myself what happened to October and how did November arrive so quickly? Because it’s a month-long challenge, by the time I realize it’s November it’s usually halfway through the month!
By then I figure it’s too late to participate, but you know what – it’s never too late to get started.
Similarly, a few years ago I found this fitness training plan for a 10k run online that started with “Day 1: Rest.” Of course, that’s the plan I decided to go with – Let’s just say that I CRUSHED “Day 1” for about three months and never got started with the training.
Writing a novel is about having something that you want to share with the world- something no one asked you to write and something that very possibly few people will ever read. It’s more about passion for writing than it is about publishing. If the only reason you want to write a novel is to become famous, then you’ll probably be lucky to finish one chapter. Novels are a big undertaking and they will test your endurance every step of the way.
I suppose the equivalent is being inspired to run on the gym’s treadmill because you want to be in the Olympics – and then turning into a couch potato once that doesn’t work out. Writing a novel can be the same way – your motivation needs to be from a passion for writing itself to keep you typing away at the computer every day, just as much as it does to go to the gym when you’d rather sleep in.
Like a 10k run training plan, if the motivation isn’t there to move beyond “Day 1:Rest,” a novel won’t get finished if you don’t love the work for the sake of it. Also like a 10k run training plan, no one else really cares if you complete it or not. 🙂 That drive has to come from you and the light that you want to share with the world in a novel.
I suppose what I’m really saying is that – you got this! You can start your novel at any time and you can join in on NaNoWriMo even if all you manage to complete are a few chapters. It’s about beginning and moving ahead through the challenges.
Wherever you are in your novel writing journey, keep going! You got this!
Julie Manthey 