*Skip to the important part…
why YOU should WriMo.

For those of you with the puzzled looks on your faces (yes, I *can* see you; nice coffee cup, btw, where’d you get it?) I’m talking about National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo.

The premise is simple; draft a 50,000 work of fiction during the month of November. It started in 1999, with a few friends in the San Francisco Bay area, and has now grown to about a gazillion participants from around the world.

If anyone was wondering what happened to all of the words that were supposed to be on MindTweaks this month, well… they were busy over here, laboriously collecting themselves into a 50,000+ word document that supposedly resembles a first draft of a novel. I’m not entirely sure they were successful. I mean, there ARE 50,000 of them, and there is a beginning, middle and an end (sort of), but it’s not in order and much of it reads more like an expanded draft/scrapbook than something you’d find on the shelves at Borders.

You may have noticed an .. ahem.. decline in the number/quality of my posts during this month of noveling insanity; Nano ate the portions of my brain formerly devoted to blogging, leaving MindTweaks in an eerie Zen-like silence. Having subjected readers to this non-consensual denial of service, I thought the least I could do to make up for it was to tell you what I learned.

Ahem!

Step by Step, Word by Word.

Enormously big accomplishments happen one infinitesimal little accomplishment at a time. String enough letters together, and, tada, you’ve got a novel. Basic lesson, I know… but still valuable every time it’s reinforced through experience.

Trust The Process.

The Creative Process has an ebb and flow to it. There are peaks and valleys. Sometimes we feel ecstatic about what we’re doing, other times, we hit chasms of despair that make us want to chuck our projects (and our lives) into the Never Ending Abyss. To actually succeed, creatively, means trusting that the urge to jump into the abyss will pass, and the problems will resolve themselves, trusting the creative process to carry us through the darkness. (It’s just basic faith, but it sounds cooler when I call it The Process)

It Doesn’t Have To Be In Order.

This was my real revelation this year - that I didn’t have to write my story in order. I didn’t have to start at the beginning, struggle through to chapters 2-12, then finally wrap it up neatly at the end. I could jump around, write the bits that inspired me, fleshing out the skeleton one body part at a time. Sure, some of the later parts will need serious reworking, to allow for innovations I stuck into earlier portions — but that’s what second, third and fourth drafts are for! If I’d figured this out 20 years ago, I’d probably have finished that first novel about magic and mirrors!

I Was Really Burnt Out On This Blog.

When I started Nano, I’d intended to keep up with blog posts, too. I wouldn’t be doing any of my 5000 word deep analysis deals, but I’d expected to make at least a 500 word post 3-4 times a week.

But I didn’t, because I didn’t want to. Through Nano, I’ve realized just how much I *do* write here, and how time consuming it actually is. The draft of post alone is more than a day’s goal for Nano, plus the editing, layout, and fiddling with Wordpress to make it right.

As a result, I’m currently re-evaluating MindTweaks, what it’s good for, and what it isn’t good for - more on that later this week. What matters is that I know the challenges I’m facing here, and I *am* back. (You’re thrilled, I can tell! I can!)

Starbucks Double-Shot Espresso-In-A-Can Rocks.

They have a light version that is sugar free, and I love it. I’m asking Santa for a dozen cases or so of the stuff.

Speedwriting/Freewriting Rocks, Too.

How do you speed/free write? Simple. Set a timer for 10, 15, 30 minutes, and keep your fingers moving, no editing allowed. Not for spelling, not for word choices, not for anything. If you’re speed writing, you just go for the highest wordcount you can. Freewriting can be a bit more thoughtful, but still, you need to keep the thoughts and fingers moving. People usually assume they’re writing drek this way, but a surprising amount of really great material comes out this way. It forces the inner editor/critic to shut up and let you write creatively.

Many NaNo-ers introduce a competitive element, competing against one another in a “WordWar”, to see who can churn out the highest numbers in a predetermined time frame. It’s a lot of fun, and great writing practice.

Humor.
Fixes.
Everything.

If you’re a regular (or even sporadic) reader of this blog, you know I’m a big believer in humor. It’s a great teaching tool, a wonderful therapeutic method, and, it turns out, it’s good for creativity, too. A too-serious story line can cause the brain to vapor lock, but never fear; introducing Sexy Turkey Hats, Febreze and Kung Fu Hamsters into a story line can unfreeze the neural cells in a jiffy. I expect to see neuroscience research on the subject any day now.

Fiction Writers Make The Bestest Companions In Hell.

Really. They do.

There’s a particular insanity that comes from having your characters wake you up at 3am whining like prima donnas before they start spontaneously killing each other off without permission. These shared experiences of insanity leads to writers bonding with one another, if for no other reason that to join forces against the rampaging temperamental characters in our stories.

But the best part about writers, for me, is the non-judgmental attitudes we cultivate in self defense. Writing fiction often means getting very close to characters we would never socialize with in life - but these reprobates become our friends. We have to set a certain amount of prissiness aside, to breathe life into these miscreants.

Outside of our little writing niche, we might have little in common. Our various social classes, levels of education, religions, morals, and political affiliations would likely have us at each others throats, in other circumstances. But when we get together as writers, it all goes out the window.

All that matters is the *writing*, the telling of the story.

Well, that and the Febreze, the Hamsters, and the Sexy Turkey Hats, of course.

But, here’s the really big question and answer:

___________________________

Q: Why should *YOU* participate in NaNoWriMo next year?

A: Because you CAN.

___________________________

(see, I told you it was really BIG)

Seriously. You should do this because you *can* do it, and it will feel really good when you prove it to yourself.

“Write a book” is one of the most popular goals on sites that track goals. Participating in NaNo may get you a nearly finished project, or just the roughest of drafts for it, but either way, it will help you evaluate that goal, and give you serious headway towards meeting it. And that’s a good thing, right?

At least 2 readers of MindTweaks participated this year.

How many more are willing to go for the gold next?