November has come and gone, and with it, my first attempt at NaNoWriMo.
NaNoWriMo—short for National Novel Writing Month—is an annual creative writing event each November where writers attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript draft in 30 days. Or at least that’s the “official” NaNoWriMo goal. Many writers use NaNoWriMo as a way to connect with other writers and work toward a variety of goals, plenty of which don’t involve word counts.
I found my way to NaNoWriMo this year unexpectedly. The first novel I started writing is not the novel I’m working on currently. This past summer, I learned about a writing grant I wanted to apply for, and the application inspired me to switch gears to a project that felt better suited to be my debut (and potentially win me a grant). I did a frenzy of work on the new novel over a three-week period in June for my grant application. But when I found out I didn’t make it to the second round of consideration, I took some time away from the project. Life happened, and the new novel continued to languish in its unopened Scrivener file.
By the end of October, I was deep into job hunting for traditional employment for the first time in seven years. Staring down the barrel of no longer working solely for myself made me realize that once I have a new job, my writing time will surely be diminished. And that made me want to jump back into my novel and give it my attention while I still could.
Doing NaNoWriMo seemed like a great way to get back in the habit of working on my novel, so I decided to try it. I knew writing 50,000 words in a month was out of the question, but I thought it would be great if I could average something like 500 words a day (~15,000 total).
My actual total? 1,575. 🫣
My NaNoWriMo experience turned out completely different than I expected it to, yet I would still consider it a success. So here’s everything I learned throughout the process:
Your first goal isn’t always your best goal or the right goal for you right now.
A lot of writers do “Preptober” the month before NaNoWriMo so they can get all their ducks in a row prior to digging into writing. I didn’t do any prep because by the time I had decided I wanted to attempt NaNo, October was almost over.
There are plenty of writers (referred to as “pantsers” because they fly by the seat of their pants) who will happily write entire manuscripts without prepping or outlining anything. I am in the opposite camp of “plotters” who like to do a lot of pre-work before starting writing. Given my natural disposition for putting in heavy work on the front end of a project, I was not ready to write on 11/1 and figured out pretty fast that if I kept trying to write, most of what I wrote would end up scrapped in draft two.
Thus, a word count goal turned out to be a bad fit for me, and I decided to abandon it in favor of a more general goal: work on my novel in some capacity the majority of days in November.
Bottom line: Changing gears doesn’t equate to “failure.” I believe it’s a sign of wisdom and maturity to be able to try something out and change your approach when it stops working. I deeply respect people who can take in new information and come to new conclusions based on what they discover. I may have “failed” in what I originally set out to do with NaNoWriMo this year, but I won when it came to moving my book forward and developing a stronger writing habit. By my count, I worked on my novel at least 15 days in November for varying amounts of time each of those days, and I’m proud of that outcome!
So much more goes into a book than its word count, and all of it matters.
So, if I wasn’t writing during NaNoWriMo, what exactly was I doing? A variety of things!
I did so much research. I have almost 10,000 words of research saved on topics that will be crucial to effectively plot out the scenes of my book. I also did tons of character profiling, including naming characters, figuring out their zodiac signs and character traits, and thinking about how each character’s background and present circumstances will affect the protagonist’s journey and the story as a whole. Lastly, I read a craft book and used the information I learned from it to help me strengthen the outline of my novel. In my opinion, engaging in anything that makes me a better writer (books, workshops, retreats, etc.) counts as working on my book.
Bottom line: Books need more than just writing to come to fruition, especially when you’re first getting going with one. Yes, the actual writing is arguably the most important action a writer can take toward finishing a book. And it’s true that if you’re not careful you can get caught up in using book prep and research to procrastinate ever doing the writing part. But there’s for sure a healthy balance that can be obtained between writing and all of the other necessary things that go into creating a book.
Community around your artwork is invaluable, but it also has to be on your own terms.
At the end of October, I attended a queer writers retreat here in Denver that was so affirming and nourishing. Having the opportunity to learn from and alongside other LGBTQIA+ writers hit home for me how much of a difference it makes to have that kind of support. Writing can be an inherently lonely art form consisting of long hours spent solo in front of a screen, so I jump at chances to be more social and/or get feedback from instructors and peers.
However, I’ve also come to realize that I need to be discerning about the kinds of settings in which I engage with other writers. For example, I attended a NaNoWriMo kick-off event at an amazing local queer bookstore (shout-out to Petals & Pages!), and I struggled to get anything done due to too many elements beyond my control. Most people loved the chosen music (the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack), but my ADHD brain found it distracting and I put in my noise-cancelling headphones in an attempt to shut it out. There was also some chatter I overheard before we all started writing—about people in MFA programs, books out on submission, etc.—that triggered some of my fears of inadequacy and didn’t put me in the best headspace to accomplish good writing. The experience taught me that if my goal is to get writing done, I’m probably better off doing it at home by myself or in a quieter environment with no more than a handful of people I already know and trust.
Bottom line: Determine what kinds of social writing settings work for you and stick with those. Before signing up for a writing event, consider things like who’s going to be there, what the environment’s going to be like (e.g., sounds, smells, visual distractions), whether you’ll be expected to share your work and if you are, whether feedback will be critiquing or non-critiquing. I’m glad to have a better sense of my boundaries and preferences now so I can choose my writer events more carefully.
You can’t ignore timing and your own priorities.
My NaNoWriMo consistency fell apart when I traveled to Austin for four days the week of Thanksgiving to spend some time with my pups and see friends. While I was there, my focus was on being present and only taking care of pressing work, and when I returned, I spent the remainder of the holiday week having quality time with my partner and my sister’s family.
If NaNo took place in, say, September, I would likely have had an easier time pushing through the whole month without any extended breaks. But the holidays only come around once per year and my partner only gets so many days off of work, so it was an easy decision for me to put my novel on the backburner during that week in order to prioritize other parts of my life.
Bottom line: Working toward your goals is important, and spending time with your loved ones is too. For more years than I’d like to admit, I worked ridiculous hours (as a lawyer, and later, a solo small business owner) to the detriment of everything else in my life. Seeing the effect that had on my well-being and relationships, it’s no longer a sacrifice I’m willing to make. That doesn’t mean there aren’t still times I work on nights/weekends or when I opt to make work my top priority, but it’s not something I do lightly anymore. This book will get written! Just not at the expense of everything else that matters to me.
Writing a novel is hard freakin’ work, so you better have a strong “why” for doing it.
It’s only through attempting to write a novel that it becomes obvious just how challenging it is to do. You have to create an entire world, characters, and plot from scratch and make everything appear to weave together effortlessly (when, in fact, effortless cohesion is an illusion that’s only possible thanks to immense behind-the-scenes work).
Plus, there are no guarantees when writing a book. You might invest years of unpaid labor into writing a novel only for it to never see the light of day. Thousands of novels get scrapped every year because their authors were unable to secure agent representation or their manuscripts died on submission when no publisher wanted them. Even if you do get an agent and a publisher, most advances don’t come anywhere close to amounting to a livable wage when you calculate all the time that goes into writing a book, editing it, and promoting it after publication. Further, very few authors “earn out” on their advances, which means they never get any royalties.
Due to the financial instability of the profession, including the lack of health insurance/benefits/PTO since authors are independent contractors, most authors can’t afford to live on their writing alone. Not exactly the glamorous profession it’s made out to be, huh?
So you really have to drill down on why you’re doing it in the first place. For me, I want to write the kinds of books I wish I’d had access to when I was in my teens and twenties. I want to write books with representation that looks like me—queer, neurodivergent, and mixed-race, for example—and continue to push literature and publishing in a more diverse and inclusive direction. I want people to read my books and feel seen and heard. So I keep going, one sentence at a time.
Bottom line: Writing a novel takes patience, commitment, and courage; continuously reiterating to yourself why your book matters will be necessary to complete it. If you have a story to tell and you think a book is the best medium to share it, then there is value in writing that book! Even if you never get paid a dime or traditionally published. I like to remind myself that every word I write makes me a better writer, regardless of the project’s outcome, and the same is true for you.
Thank you to everyone who encouraged me during NaNoWriMo! I was posting daily updates to my IG stories for a while, and I heard from so many people who enjoyed reading them and learning about my process, writers who felt inspired to work on their own projects because they knew I was working on mine, and folks who told me they couldn’t wait until my book was finished and out in the world so they could pre-order it. Y’all inspire me to keep pushing forward with my dream of having a published novel.
Queerly yours,
Shohreh
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