NaNoWriMo writer Karissa Zastrow / Credit: Justin Patchin

Krisany Blount

For many prose writers, the end goal is a novel. It doesn’t sound that hard to do. Really, it’s only about 70,000 words (on the low-end of average). Just a really long short story. And how hard is writing a short story?

If you’re laughing with a sort of bitter irony, you know what I’m getting at. Writing is deceptively difficult. Despite the number of people who remark that they’ve “always wanted to write a novel,” there’s a reason they haven’t done it already. Because it’s not as easy as it seems.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible though. There’s all sorts of methods and advice out there to help writers make it through the first draft, and the second, and et cetera. One of these tools is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

First started in 1999, NaNoWriMo takes place every November. The goal is to write 50,000 words over the course of the month. In other words, to “complete” a first draft of a novel in a month. This breaks down to writing 1,667 words a day, for all 30 days of November.

“Many writers, myself included, tend to flounder in the first draft process because we start to second guess ourselves, self-edit, and procrastinate. To tackle NaNoWriMo with any degree of success, you have to turn off that inner-editor and just write.””

“NaNoWriMo is an impetus to get writers to lay down a rough draft that they can spend time on later to add to, edit, and continue revising. Many writers, myself included, tend to flounder in the first draft process because we start to second guess ourselves, self-edit, and procrastinate. To tackle NaNoWriMo with any degree of success, you have to turn off that inner-editor and just write,” says Aimee Johnson, a long-time participant and Municipal Liaison for the Eau Claire area NaNoWriMo group.

As Municipal Liaison, Johnson organizes events like write-ins, where NaNoWriMo participants can show up with their writing instrument of choice and write for a few hours while hanging out with other writers. This year, these events have, of course, gone virtual. But Johnson cites the community as one of the keys to succeeding. Karissa Zastrow, another long time NaNoWriMo participant, agrees.

““I am incredibly motivated by achieving a goal, so when there’s the combination of setting the goal and having a support system of other writers who check in to see where I’m are at with my word count, it pushes me to keep going,” says Zastrow.”

“I am incredibly motivated by achieving a goal, so when there’s the combination of setting the goal and having a support system of other writers who check in to see where I’m are at with my word count, it pushes me to keep going,” says Zastrow.

Other advice for success? Keep everything you write. Yes, we all want to write a perfect first draft and writing “bad” words can feel counterproductive, but as my favorite writing motto goes: you can’t edit a blank page. Once you finish, you can make it better.

Carve out time to write and stick to it, but don’t be afraid to write outside of that time. A few minutes here and there can really add up in the long run. But just writing in short bursts likely won’t be enough to get you to the goal, so setting aside some time each day just for writing is also important. As is defending your writing time.

“It is so easy to say, ‘well, I guess I can go do this tonight and just write double tomorrow’ or ‘I’ll just make it up over the weekend.’ Before you know it, you are down almost 5,000 words and that is not a small number. When people ask you to give up your writing time, protect it,” says Zastrow.

But even by doing everything “right” you might not finish and that’s okay. NaNoWriMo isn’t a walk in the park, and the mental toll for creativity this year is more strenuous than usual, so just showing up and trying right now is a major accomplishment.

“Being able to have something to work with is the real prize at the end of NaNoWriMo. Plus, you deserve to be the writer you wish you could be, and NaNoWriMo is the perfect time to do that,” says Johnson.

Best of luck to everyone participating in NaNoWriMo!