As I sit here at the Mendenhall Valley Public Library on a Saturday, the frost outside the window sparkling in rare Juneau sunshine, I think of the thousands of people around the world who are choosing to stay indoors as they write their novels. It\u2019s National Novel Writing Month, and participants are trying to write 50,000 words between midnight Nov. 1 and 11:59 p.m. Nov. 30. It certainly isn\u2019t a small undertaking, but I am reminded of something a university classmate of mine said to me years ago: \u201cWriters write.\u201d<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t something nobody has never said before \u2014 actually, it\u2019s obvious when you think about it. But when I first heard it, it cut through my writing excuses and made me seriously reevaluate my relationship with my creative work. It helped jump start a writing habit that I kept to for almost two years, and even gave me motivation to participate in NaNoWriMo multiple times.<\/p>\n
I had been riding Capital City Transit on the way to the University of Alaska Southeast Juneau campus and this classmate and I were discussing writing. I can\u2019t recall exactly how we\u2019d gotten to this point in our conversation, but I must have made some comment about being too busy to write. He chuckled and said \u201cwriters write\u201d like it was obvious.<\/p>\n
It should have been, but at that moment it was like a revelation. How can I call myself a writer if I don\u2019t take the time to write?<\/p>\n
All the reasons I didn\u2019t write seemed pathetic as they rested on my tongue. I swallowed them and seriously considered what he said. I was embarrassed, mainly because I knew he was right. I didn\u2019t write as much as I wanted to or knew I should. It had been a frustration of mine. Going to school full time and working two part-time jobs didn\u2019t leave me an abundance of free time. When I did, I often got writers\u2019 block, a blanket term I and others like to use when we don\u2019t feel like writing, a phenomenon which usually stems from deeper issues than the Muse packing its bags to go live in what we imagine to be another writer\u2019s worthier mind.<\/p>\n
Something I\u2019ve come to learn in recent years is that writers\u2019 block comes from a variety of places and takes on different forms, but it usually stems from fear. I\u2019m talking about fear of failure; fear that our craft, ideas and stories aren\u2019t good enough; fear that no one will want to read what we write; fear that we\u2019re wasting our time; fear that our stories won\u2019t translate to the page as well as they manifested in our brains; fear that our work won\u2019t ever even be a smidgen as lyrical, imaginative or compelling as those of our favorite writers. We make excuses or find other projects, like cleaning the bathroom or organizing our book shelves, and promise ourselves later, tomorrow, someday. Well, \u201csomeday\u201d keeps getting pushed back. Months turn into a year and what do we have to show for the time besides a few pages with openings written and rewritten again. Writers\u2019 block is often an excuse, I\u2019ve learned, that keeps us from looking too closely at what\u2019s keeping us from writing.<\/p>\n
If you participate in National Novel Writing Month, you don\u2019t have time for writers\u2019 block. To reach your 50,000 word goal, you have to write at least 1,667 words a day.<\/p>\n
Now I didn\u2019t immediately jump into NaNoWriMo. I started writing on 750words.com (recommended if you want to start a daily writing habit). The site sent me reminder emails, kept track of my word count, and allowed me to achieve streaks, hitting my 750 word count for days in a row. That December, I challenged myself to write every day for the entire month. But once I finished December, I thought, why stop? Once on a streak, I kept going and wrote daily for nearly two years with only the occasional break.<\/p>\n
I wrote about my life, wrote school assignments, worked on creative pieces, even wrote about how much I didn\u2019t feel like writing at that moment and explored the reasons behind my blocks through words. I gave myself permission to write with abandon, because after all, no one would be reading these words but me. I learned to silence my inner editor through free-writing. I didn\u2019t allow myself to go back and edit as I went along, or I knew I\u2019d just get hung up on the small things and lose track of what I was trying to write. Rough drafts can be polished later. I learned to not fear a blank page. Eventually I got the courage to finally attempt NaNoWriMo, because I wanted a period of time where I would solely and intensely focus on one project.<\/p>\n
The first time I did it wasn\u2019t November, so it technically wasn\u2019t NaNoWriMo, but one August I took the plunge. Feeling wildly accomplished, I did it again that November. And the next year after that, and the one after that.<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t pretend NaNoWriMo is easy. It takes a lot of time, energy, and dedication. You must be prepared. Here is what I learned from my experiences. Whether you\u2019re thinking about participating next year, are slugging away at your words currently, or are thinking about doing your own writing challenge on a different month to jump start your novel, hopefully some of this advice works for you.<\/p>\n
1. Know what you\u2019re going to write about.<\/strong> This means doing some work before your challenge even begins. I assume you already have a novel you want to write, hence why you\u2019re thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo. I highly recommend writing an outline of your book; mine is usually a basic, general timeline. I like to write down individual scenes on notecards. When I get stuck, I can whip one out and write 1,667 words on that and usually this sparks more ideas so I don\u2019t run out of content.<\/p>\n 2. Have a time and space set aside for writing and make it sacred.<\/strong><\/p>\n For me it means waking up at least an hour and a half to two hours earlier than I wake up to go to work. I go through my regular morning routines, then settle into my recliner with my laptop and notes right beside. I make sure I have everything I need before I begin (tea included, music maybe). I might read a little bit of what I did the day before just to springboard off and then I start writing and don\u2019t stop until I hit my word count. My phone is hidden. I do not go on the internet. I\u2019m focused on the task at hand. If I\u2019m being particularly slow and can\u2019t finish before I have to leave, I will finish when I get home. You know your life \u2014 come up with a time and space where you can write and don\u2019t let anything disrupt it. If your house doesn\u2019t provide the quiet you need, try your local library. If you don\u2019t make plans to do your writing, there\u2019s a fair chance you just won\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n 3. You\u2019re going to not feel like writing sometimes\u2013 write anyways<\/strong>. If you wait for inspiration to strike, like being struck by lightning, you\u2019ll be waiting a long time; it\u2019s an ineffective way to write a novel, which is why you should have a dedicated time and space to write as well as have a plan of what you\u2019re going to write. Often when I don\u2019t feel like writing but make myself do it anyways, I find I start to get into it and enjoy myself and the time slips right by. One of my English professors once said at the start of her class something along the lines of: writing is five percent inspiration and 95 percent perspiration. She was right. Thank you, Ernestine.<\/p>\n 4. Don\u2019t edit.<\/strong> If you spend your time editing what you did before, you won\u2019t have as much left to work on writing your 1,667 words. You can edit in December, or whatever month follows the month of your writing challenge. Turn off spell check if the red squiggly lines are bothering you, but keep writing.<\/p>\n 5. Be accountable to someone. <\/strong>Tell someone you\u2019re doing the challenge so it\u2019ll be harder for you to back out of it. Maybe do the challenge with some of your writer friends so you can check in on each other\u2019s progress and encourage each other. Check online to see if there are any local NaNoWriMo particpants in your area and see about meeting up for regular write-ins. Or post updates on your progress on social media.<\/p>\n 6. You will not have a publishable novel by the end and that\u2019s okay.<\/strong> If it\u2019s anything like mine, it\u2019ll be a jumble of world notes, character motivations, tangled plots threads, and disjointed scenes. I treat it as an immensely rough draft where I\u2019m just trying to get the story and all my ideas down on a Word document. It\u2019s a time where I am learning what my story is, and through the act of writing 50,000 words in a month, I\u2019m much further along with figuring out the details and how everything will connect than if I hadn\u2019t, which brings me to…<\/p>\n 7. Redefine your idea of success.<\/strong> I have friends who have participated in NaNoWriMo and didn\u2019t make it to the finish line and then got discouraged. I too missed the mark one year due to a medical emergency and didn\u2019t finish. It was a bit disheartening, but I had to remember I still have thousands of words to show for the time and energy I already spent; there may not be 50,000 of them, but each word still counts. If you worked on your book today, even for a short time, then you have made progress. If for whatever reason you don\u2019t hit your goal, whether it\u2019s 50,000 words or some other writing challenge, you are further along than if you hadn\u2019t tried. You can always try to make that goal next time.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Clara Miller at <\/em>clara.miller@juneauempire.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I sit here at the Mendenhall Valley Public Library on a Saturday, the frost outside the window sparkling in rare Juneau sunshine, I think of the thousands of people around the world who are choosing to stay indoors as they write their novels. 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