On your marks, get set... WRITE!!

About seven years ago friends of mine told me about this thing that had started in the USA and had built up a bit of a following via the internet. It was called NaNoWriMo, which expanded out to National Novel Writing Month. I've always had a problem with the 'national' bit. It's not limited to one nation even the website comes in several languages now. Either drop the 'national', or change it to 'Int' - internet / international. Please. [Bleat over.]

I didn't do it then. Not because I was irked by the title of the thing, but because I'd been told about it halfway through the month of writing. The next year I was in the throes of emigrating to the UK and didn't have an internet connection, really, and after that I lost track or didn't have the time.

This October another friend mentioned he was going to give it a go. Inspired by him, I went and had a look at the NaNoWriMo website, checked out the rules, and signed up.

In the days leading up to November, I followed some of the links to writerly websites. I loved the range offered. I followed a few on Twitter, enjoying those that tweet quotes from writers about their craft. Seen with a closed mind, they're contradictory. Seen through a mind open to the rich diversity of human thought captured through the centuries, it's a reminder of brilliant wit and sagacity. Even if a quote is something I disagree with, I have still enjoyed reading them.

Writing is the slow capturing of rapid thoughts and flitting ideas. Medical diagnostic technology is showing what our brains do when we talk and when we write, but it's writers who are exploring what that means. More, too, of course.

I downloaded the Storyist software (Mac only, for now), which was free for the month of November as a trial version. I liked using it so much I've bought it, and I suspect my current version of MS Office for the Mac will be the last version of that I'll buy. Don't get me wrong, MS Office is useful, it's just that Storyist is better suited to what I use my MacBook for and I know I've barely unleashed its potential.

This year I fit the writing in around my work and social calendar. Next year I am going to book a week or two off work. This year was a struggle, to be honest, but I did do it. So did the friend who inspired me.

Other blogs, and some newspaper articles, debated the pros and cons of NaNoWriMo. You can go hunt those arguments down for yourself, if you like. Some of them were a bit Stepford Wife in their praise, but others seemed intent to trash the concept. What's the point, say the naysayers, of raising the hopes of thousands who might "win" but never find a publisher? It's a valid point, until you actually read what's on the site and follow their links and suggestions. And they don't say it in a scared-we're-gonna-get-sued kind of way.

What I got out of the experience was what I hoped I would: a first draft of a novel from a collection of notes I'd been carrying around for a while. From that, a sense of achievement. However, I am very well aware there is a lot of work to do before it will see the light of day. But, I now know the ideas work as a story, and I like the characters. I want to put in the work to build it properly and then to start the process of trying to sell it.

What I found most useful about NaNoWriMo was the competition. The part of the website I used most often was the statistical bit. It felt good to have my daily word count above the target line. When it dipped, that spurred me on. The fact that it was on a website hosted by friendly strangers was more encouraging than if, say, I worked out my own formula. I liked the little pep-talk emails, too. I had been dubious about them, but when they started to arrive at a pleasant rate I read them and was entertained. More than that, they showed a vulnerability in the authors, and that in turn served to reassure and inspire.

NaNoWritMo is not for every writer, and nor should it be. Commissioned authors writing to a contracted deadline don't need to do it. What NaNoWriMo does is give you a similar set of conditions, but with a supportive community to combat those doubts of whether or not writing is work. Of course it is, even if it might not be paid work. Yet.

Depending on what's happening in my life next year, I may well sign up for a second time.

ADDENDUM

In March 2011, I submitted a sample from a polished up version of what I completed for NaNoWriMo to a publisher who had opened up their submissions policy for that month. In July 2011, I was asked to send them the full manuscript. That's absolutely no guarantee of a sale, mind, but I'm utterly delighted by the news. Even if that publisher ends up deciding the novel isn't for them, the simple fact is that NaNoWriMo was the spur to get me to finish that first draft, and that feeling of initial success I wrote about in this blogpost the spur to polish it up and submit it.

Oh, and software-wise, I've now discovered Scrivener. Cool program, which for me just edges ahead of Storyist.
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