A few weeks ago, I reminded you all of the importance of reading for pleasure. Now, I think that it’s time to highlight the importance of another favorite hobby of mine—writing—that has been unfairly put aside over the years.
Thankfully, one of my favorite holidays is quickly approaching to remedy this problem: National Novel Writing Month. Also known as NaNoWriMo, this celebration of writing runs from November 1st to November 30th. The “goal” of the month is to write a 50,000-word novel in the 30 days or an average of 1,667 words a day. Yes, this may sound like cruel and unusual punishment to most people, and at some times it definitely can feel that way.
Despite how painful meeting this goal can be, however, I love it. I have attempted NaNoWriMo in both my junior and senior years of high school, I “won” both times by meeting the goal, and plan to win again this year. If you think that NaNoWriMo might be a fun experience but are wary of trying it, I have listed below 6 reasons why the 30-day struggle is an adventure that nobody should let pass by:
- Everybody has some sort of story to tell. We all have completely different experiences, which foster completely different thoughts inside of us just waiting to be put onto paper. It doesn’t even matter if you consider yourself a “writer” or not. Consider it an opportunity to do something that you have never done before. Plus, how many biology or economics majors can say that they have written a book?
- Nowhere else do you have a valid excuse to suck. Many people are afraid of attempting NaNoWriMo because they are afraid that their novel is going to be completely terrible. But that is exactly the point! NaNoWriMo gives writers an excuse to be terrible and not think about it. All that you have to focus on is just writing every single day; it’s all about “quantity over quality”. Save editing for December.
- 50,000 words is not a be-all end-all. The number is completely arbitrary, established 14 years ago by the creators of NaNoWriMo. Life gets in the way sometimes, and writing a November novel definitely does not take top priority over schoolwork or dealing with emergencies. If you can only manage to write 20,000 words by the end of the month, that is still something to be proud of! That’s 20,000 more words than you would have written otherwise.
- NaNoWriMo is actually an effective time manager. You would think that with this huge project looming overhead there would be much less motivation to do schoolwork. When I first started NaNoWriMo, however, I made a deal with myself that I would only let myself write if I finished all of my homework for that day. This worked wonders! In November, I actually finish my work much more efficiently than I do in any other month.
- You have support. Anything can be made more enjoyable with friends. Find English majors or closeted bookworms who are also attempting the project and discuss plot holes and character development with them. Do word sprints and see who can write the most words in an established amount of time. Even if you can’t find your support group at Kenyon, NaNoWriMo is a worldwide celebration of aspiring authors everywhere. There are countless forum topics on the NaNoWriMo website on which anybody can ask for advice, thus giving the opportunity to make “writing buddies” from across the globe.
- The feeling of accomplishment is unlike any other. There are no words to describe how amazing it is to look at the word count bar at the bottom of a computer screen and see the number 50,000. I have never in my life been more proud of myself. That one split second of typing the 50,000th word of my novel is worth every doubt, every complaint, and every late night. That feeling is why I keep doing NaNoWriMo and why anybody who wants to, should.
If you need some more motivation, check out ‘The NaNoWriMo Song,” written and performed by one of my favorite YouTube video bloggers, Kristina Horner. Kristina has “won” NaNoWriMo seven times and has made a video about the project every year since 2008. She has inspired me to write this year, and her song is definitely on my NaNoWriMo playlist.
Happy Writing!
[Photo Sources: NaNoWriMo.org, Melora Johnson]