NaNoWriMo

I put "completing NaNoWriMo" on my 101 list. When most people hear about NaNoWriMo, they just ask, "Uh... what?" And then I have to go on and clarify what NaNoWriMo is. (And some people still think I'm crazy after the explanation.)

NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month) is a challenge in the month of November to write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days. This averages out to be 1667 words a day to reach the goal. Quite a bit of writing, and it can definitely be a bit intimidating. But I did it!

I know my novel wasn't anything special, especially considering the fact that I officially decided to participate on October 31 and had no real plan or outline going into it. However, it was really fun to just be a bit creative in my free time. I forgot how therapeutic writing can be for me. I was able to actually work out some personal issues, in a way. Amazing how just writing can do that. And it's so liberating to just ignore your inner editor for a while, because you need to get your word count. (Sometimes, it does become more about quantity than quality.) It doesn't matter if what you write doesn't make complete sense. It doesn't matter if you have the perfect phrase to describe everything. It doesn't matter if the characters aren't completely fleshed out. As some NaNoWriMo participants have been known to say, "December (and beyond) is for editing." I'm not entirely sure how much editing I'll ever end up doing, since I don't really have plans to publish it. But maybe. We'll see. And I'm already considering doing it again next year. Maybe with more of a plan.

But for now, I'll just be proud of this win. I mean, how many people can say they've written a novel? It was always something I wanted to be able to say, and now I can! It feels so great to set goals and achieve them.