I have never published a novel… yet. You may be interested to know that I have written two of them and have started a third. I doubt any of them will ever see the light of day or will ever be liberated from the confines of my saved documents. I am completely fine with that. It is the process I enjoy, allowing the creative energy that wells up inside me to escape, even if it is only an exercise.
Let me explain. Years ago, I heard of this movement, which began in the Bay Area, of writing a novel in a month. This was a movement of creative people who chose to challenge themselves and each other during the month of November to put down on paper 50,ooo words or more during the 30 days of an otherwise unspectacular month.
Chris Baty is the founder of the National Novel Writing Month and the author of the book No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days. I came across this book somehow and found the notion interesting. I was encouraged by the challenge and made the preparations to incorporate the time into my schedule for November 2015. One of his suggestions is to get “buy-in” from your spouse and family, as it will require commitment and may take time away from loved ones. I was working at this time and in the midst of raising a family, so my time was at a premium. Fortunately, I have a very supportive spouse who encouraged me to pursue this, for whatever reason I gave her.
The reason this buy-in is important is that in order to write 50,000 words in 30 days, one must be in the practice of writing 1,667 words each day. This is no small task, as those words must be invented on the fly. Writing in this style is indeed high-velocity and leaves no room for self-criticism. Each day, one must produce and put words down, whether inspired or not.
If you know me, you know that I enjoy a challenge and, when focused, can be very disciplined, so this project has my name written all over it.
The movement agreed to change the name from National Novel Writing Month to NaNoWriMo at some point. Soon, NaNoWriMo groups were popping up all over the country, where one could plug in and find support from other knuckleheads who wanted to join the program with support in their community. I found myself in the basement of Horizon Books (possibly the best independent bookstore) on several occasions during November 2015 with other writers, as we would meet periodically to write simultaneously in two-hour sprints.
You were to start on November 1, solely with an idea. No previous drafts of other works were allowed to keep it fresh and to use the time constraint to exert pressure towards creativity. I brought my idea, and the NaNoWriMo organization had a website where I would log my word count each day and track my progress. I found the support, on a national level, from the entire community fun and inspiring.
During this time, I developed the habit of waking at 4:30 or 5:00 am so as to not steal time from my clients or family. This habit proved very useful when I wrote my non-fiction book years later. The house is quiet, the coffee is somehow more delicious, and the glow from the monitor is the only light I need. Some days, the words flowed effortlessly, and I would have to stop myself to go to work. Other days, it seemed like torture to produce each and every word for a relentless tyrant. I learned early on that coming up short one day made the next day almost unbearable to get back on track. Only get 1,000 words down, no problem; that’s 2,334 tomorrow. Once I learned that lesson, I never fell behind again.
One of the challenges is that each morning, I would need to get back into the story, so I would have to read the previous few pages to refresh my creative juices. Doing this caused me to spend time editing my work, fixing spelling errors, and otherwise “wasting” time. November is NOT the time for editing; it is only the time to produce. Words, words, and more words.
Around Thanksgiving Day, a story began to take shape, and momentum carried me forward. There is a warning in Chris Baty’s book to be prepared for the holidays and not to take a day off this close to the end. I heeded that warning and plowed through early in the day before the tryptophan kicked in.
On December 1, I had written over 53,000 words and still needed to wrap up the story, so I kept writing, eventually reaching just over 60,000. Any person who reached the 50k threshold was considered to have “won” the challenge. I am happy to report that I have attempted and won the challenge on two different occasions.
This year, I was excited for my third attempt and had the germ of an idea that needed to be fleshed out. I went back to the NaNoWriMo website only to find that it has officially closed down and is defunct as of a few years ago. It seems, from my research, the cause of its demise is that AI became too prevalent in the writing world and ruined the challenge for well-meaning writers. This made me sad, of course, but not without hope.
A little more digging, and I discovered there is still a group of writers who will continue their own version of the challenge using other formats and writing websites. As of one hour ago, I registered once again for this audacious event and will plant that germ of an idea in the fallow ground of my computer and tend it throughout November.
Like the previous works that will never see the light of day, this one too will likely remain in the bowels of my computer for my own pleasure. But who knows? Years ago, walking 500 miles seemed like an unlikely event, and I crushed that. Crazier things have happened.