Our fearless leader SensibleShoes is off promoting her latest, so I’m guest hosting. Beware! Retrospection ahead!
I’ve always toyed with the idea of being a writer. It’s been a dream for most of my life. Until I did NaNoWriMo the first time, it was something I never focused time on, just something I occasionally dabbled with. I didn’t have a lot of good advice or access to the wisdom of the writing community like we do now (here, in podcasts, in blogs, on the Interwebs, etc.) For other reasons, I also stepped away from writing altogether for a while.
I’ve done NaNoWriMo 7 times and exceeded the 50k all 7 times. (Though I wear a “winner” shirt after passing 50k — yes, I bought the swag — I think anyone who tries and writes at least once has “won” in the most meaningful sense. Writing was accomplished!)
2013 was the first year I did NaNoWriMo. I didn’t tell anyone, because I wasn’t sure I could. In fact, I only attempted it because I figured out how much I could make up on weekends. 2014, I decided to entirely pants the story, and barely made it over the finish. In 2015, I outlined and shot for the stars, 100k. I made 76k, so well past the 50k, but well shy of my stretch goal. In 2016, I outlined and wrote 66k, completing the story. In 2017 and 2018, I started with a solid outline, went for 100k, and achieved it. In 2019, I had an outline and made 88k — but the word count was not my goal. My goal was to complete a story and examine my process.
In the course of the month, I’ve examined a lot more. This has been a year of reflection for me. What I realized is — I graduated.
In 2013, I learned I could do it.
In 2014, I learned I could do it without a plan, but it was really hard.
In 2015, I learned I was not ready to tackle 100k without a better plan, but it didn’t keep me from 50k.
In 2016, I learned I could do it easily, without too much stress, with a good plan.
In 2017, I learned for certain I could write 100k with a good enough plan.
In 2018, I learned 2017 was not a fluke.
In 2019, I had no doubts and concentrated on something other than word count.
Starting in 2016, I pre-orderd my “winner” t-shirt, first as incentive to not fail, and later because I had no doubts I could do it.
The weird thing is, 2016 was the last year I actually doubted myself. But I didn’t realize until this year just how much my attitude shifted. There was no question in my mind I could reach 50k, just whether I could achieve a secondary goal or not. (Weirdly, I have a friend who has “won” 15 times, yet still doubts himself every year.)
Along the way, I learned some interesting lessons.
I learned that I can spew words quickly. They’re even okay words, most of the time.
I learned that there is real power in being able to write anywhere, anytime. A sentence dashed out on a phone while standing in line is still a sentence.
I learned that externally-generated goals, deadlines, and accountability are far, far more motivating than vague hopes, dreams, and notions.
I learned that writing can be a social activity. Having other writers around, at least for me, is encouraging. Other people are doing this crazy thing, too. As solitary as the actual words are, sitting next to other people also writing is highly energizing.
I learned the power of audio and location triggers, and the power of word sprints. Especially in groups.
I learned that I personally need to know the rough shape of the ending and the story to avoid struggling. If I figure it out in the planning stage, all the writing gets a lot easier because there’s no doubt about whether it will have a decent ending. (The ending can, of course, change in the course of writing.) In essence, my version of writer’s block is mostly doubt about the rest of the book.
I learned that, with a plan, I can write the part that energizes me. I don’t have to work through the book in order, I can skip around to the interesting bits. Once those are down, the other bits get more interesting, too.
I learned that emptying myself of ideas doesn’t mean I’m out of ideas. Instead, being empty makes room for new ideas. In fact, new ideas start demanding entry once space is made. I’d been working on a story for years and wanted to get to work on other stuff, but the fact that it was incomplete kept nagging at me. 2013 emptied me of that story, and a galaxy of new stories proposed themselves once that story was expressed.
I learned that not every story I want to tell would make a good book. Several are likely permanent trunk novels, never to be touched again. They were still good practice, and I’m getting better about figuring out something I will stay excited enough about to revise.
I learned that the first draft is just the first step, and I still have a long, steep hill of learning to revise to climb. I may have even made a mistake in tackling one of the worst piles of words for my first serious revision. Looking back, it was a much rougher revision path to go through than I anticipated (I didn’t know what I didn’t know), but I learned a lot along the way. And there’s more to do.
I learned that a month is a good unit of time for experiments. It’s long enough to really test it, but short enough that it doesn’t feel wasted if the experiment is not entirely successful.
But most importantly, I’ve learned there’s a huge amount of wisdom in Rachael Herron’s tagline from her “How Do You Write?” podcast: “Create your own process.” There isn’t one process, there isn’t even necessarily one process for a given writer. It’s a constant effort to figure out what works best for each of us.
There are many other things I’ve picked up. Craft tips, motivation tips, time management tips. But those are the big lessons I’ve learned. And, like anything else, I’ve learned there’s still a huge amount to learn.
This post does not lend itself well to a writing challenge. So, instead, I will ask these questions:
What have you learned, either from NaNoWriMo/DaKoWriMo or your experiences with writing so far, that has been a surprising or invaluable lesson about your own process?
What used to be a real worry that, with experience, now you are confident you can do?
As a reminder, DaKoWriMo (the DailyKos Writing Month) is coming up in January.
We had a bunch of people set goals for November. Let’s do a final check in:
People aiming for 50k words:
bonetti: 88,888 words as of 12/05
Canasta The Loony: 6,241 words as of 11/28
Clio2: 50,556 words as of 12/05
dconrad: about 51,208 words as of 12/05
Mt Baker Dem: 55,416 words as of 11/28
Toro Blanco: 1100 words as of 11/7
People aiming for other goals:
Diana in Nova: Finish Iron & Scarlet
Kat Snyder: story - 4,850 words as of 11/28
Leo Orionis: Get Thul. Etym. Dict. to stage 5 (finished as of 11/21)
mettle fatigue: sh. story still 2582 words as of 11/28
Mnemosyne: 10k words + 15 walks (5,000 words, 5 walks as of 11/21)
quarkstomper: edit & write “Dark Redemption” (edit first ~6 chapters + 200 more words as of 11/28)
reppa: prep for January (in-progress as of 11/28)
SensibleShoes: 20 walks (15 walks as of 11/21)
strawbale: finish & polish Clever Bunny story (finished writing as of 11/14) went live here as of 11/29)
terrypinder: 10k words (2100 written as of 12/05)
(I will update from the comments as the evening progresses.)
Write On! will be a regular Thursday feature (8 pm ET, 5 pm PT) until it isn’t. Before signing a contract with any agent or publisher, please be sure to check them out on Preditors and Editors, Absolute Write and/or Writer Beware.