A Novel in Thirty Days. Am I Mad?

My writing world this week has mostly been working on National Novel Writing Month. Anyone who has taken part in it before knows it’s a marathon. It’s frustrating and hard work but it’s such good fun all at the same time.

After wondering whether to work on a new idea, I decided that due to my false starts, I was close enough to the beginning of my current work in progress to work on it for National Novel Writing Month in the hope that it will get me far enough into the draft to not be able to start again (and thus the end of the false starts.) There is some logic in my madness I am sure.

I am about 10,000 words into it now (at the end of the first week) – so far so good. One trap I have nearly fallen into though is to allow the tone and the quality to overshadow the draft, which is usually what makes me start again. I am back to that hard task of telling my internal editor to stop it and go and lock itself away until 1^st December. That’s the beauty of National Novel Writing Month is that you get so focused on making the 50,000 words in the thirty days, that you aren’t allowing your internal editor to get its opinion across (no matter how much it is trying to.)

I happen to love National Novel Writing Month for that reason. The deadline also helps and having other writers (friends) writing a novel in thirty days means you can take part in some healthy competition. For me, it spurs me on. Some writers don’t or can’t write in the confines of NaNoWriMo. It’s not for everyone but it’s worth trying at least once if you’re trying to write a book but, like I have, got stuck and need a huge kick-start into your first draft.

Do you take part in NaNoWriMo? Why? Do you find it helpful?

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.