NaNoWriMo? What's that?

It's been exactly three years and one day since my first post, so I might as well write a second post!

Now, do you want the short answer, the long answer, or the not-really-an-answer that just talks about how I do the thing?

All of the above? Sounds great!

SHORT ANSWER:

NaNoWriMo is an acronym that stands for National Novel Writing Month. The specific month happens to be November. And you write a novel during the month.

 

LONG ANSWER:
 

National Novel Writing Month is a program where you write 50000 words of a novel throughout the whole month of November. The idea at its most pure and basic is, you start with a blank page on the 1st and end with a finished novel on the 30th. No editing, no grading for grammar—just writing words. Some people don't always play it out exactly like that, though, and that's all right. Sometimes they go into it having already started their novel, and their 50000 words just pick up from where they left off. Other times they write a second draft of what they wrote in the past. These people are called NaNo Rebels. I have always been one, and in all honesty it's the most rebellious thing I've ever done. :) The age limit for NaNoWriMo is 13 and up, and I was 14 when I first did it, but technically it's oriented toward adults. It has absolutely nothing to do with explicit content or anything, though—they just have another program oriented toward kids. More on that a little later. :)
 

Camp NaNoWriMo also exists, and this has even more freedom. You have options outside of writing a novel: you can choose to write nonfiction, poetry, short stories, a script, or even a revision of something you wrote in the past. You can also set your own goal for the month, and it isn't just limited to words. You can track your hours or minutes you spend writing, or how many lines or pages you've written. And if you change your mind in the middle of the month, if you're tired of tracking words and you'd rather track pages, you can absolutely change it. It's all up to you, and it's awesome. :) You also have the option of working in a virtual cabin, either a public cabin with other writers of similar ages or genres, or a private cabin where you invite other campers in. And best of all, this program happens twice, in April and July. A two-for-one deal!

NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program is another variation, which is oriented toward children aged 17 and younger, and teachers and other educators. Like traditional NaNo, the main event is writing a novel in November. But like Camp NaNo, the kids can set their own word goals, and the educators can have their students work in virtual classrooms similar to cabins. The students also have the option to keep the fun going year-round, with fun challenges and opportunities to edit their novels on the site. I've never done this, because when I joined I jumped straight into normal NaNo, as I mentioned before. And when I was the right age to do it, I was homeschooled and my classroom experiences were limited to small co-ops and those yearly standardized tests. :) But it sounds like a lot of fun!
 

All of these programs can be buckets of fun, they can be the most crazy thing you've ever done, or they can be super chill. Everyone's experience is so different. But at the end of the day, there's no wrong way to do NaNoWriMo. What matters is that you're writing.

 

NOT REALLY AN ANSWER:
 

I've been all-in in NaNoWriMo for seven years. I've done it a grand total of 18 times. That's seven novels, revising four of them later; four musical scripts, revising one later; and one set of short stories, revising it later. The revising was basically me writing the project once during Camp NaNo and once during traditional NaNo.

But here are my quirks when it comes to NaNoWriMo: I never actually finish the writing project. Sometimes I meet my word goal, but the story isn't finished at all. If it's a script, I might not even be done with Act 1. After the month ends, I have no motivation to look at the project for another month or so. And I'll be honest...I have never once succeeded in writing 50000 words in November NaNo, or Camp NaNo for that matter. I've actually won each round of Camp NaNo, but solely because I can set my word goal lower. It's not like my goals are to write 30 words in the entire month, though. I do push myself to some degree. :)
 

I'd love to discuss all my adventures and writing projects I've accomplished with NaNoWriMo, but trying to cover all seven years here would be a little much for one post. So you can expect a post in the future where I do that. And it will have to be in the near future, before the next NaNo session gets underway. Because that's where my writing energy will be devoted when the time comes. :)

I guess all that's left to say is, NaNoWriMo is awesome and I cannot recommend it enough! :) If you're interested and want to dig deeper, I have links to the NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNoWriMo, and NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program under the "Need Help?" tab. Go check them out! And if you have done or plan on doing NaNoWriMo, tell me all about it in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!
 

All right, time for me to vanish off the earth for another 1097 days—
I'm kidding, I'm kidding!

~EKL <><