Why Every Writer Should Attempt NaNoWriMo

Today I have the honor of hosting guest blogger, Stephany of Stephany Writes! Stephany blogs about writing, life in Florida, faith, and her travels.

If you are interested in guest blogging on any topics related to publishing, writing, goals, and inspiration, (or just something fun!) email me at katie@test.katiemccoach.com.

Why Every Writer Should Attempt NaNoWriMo

Last year, I attempted NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month – writing 50,000 words in 30 days in November) and won. Actually, I kicked ass.

I finished before Thanksgiving, writing 50,000 words by November 21st.

This isn’t the first time I’ve attempted this monstrous challenge, but it was the first year I completed it and got to experience the rush of achievement thrum through my body as I sat at my computer every day for 3 weeks straight and wrote and wrote and wrote.

It was the first step in realizing my dream of becoming a writer and doing what I love. And I want to tell you why challenging yourself to NaNoWriMo is something I think every aspiring writer should do:

1. It disciplines you.

The biggest thing I struggle with on my path to becoming a published novelist is discipline. Since I view fiction writing as more of a hobby, it’s easy to let it keep slipping down the to-do list until suddenly, it’s been six months since I’ve written fiction. With NaNoWriMo, I learned how to be disciplined with my writing. I learned to sit at my computer every day and write. It became a daily habit for me and for the first time ever, writing became one of the first things on my to-do list, not one of the last things.

2. It makes you write, whether you want to or not.

NaNoWriMo is not about writing a masterpiece. It’s about messy, sloppy, unedited writing. It’s about word counts and erasing the perfectionism and getting words down. Editing has no place in NaNoWriMo-land. For me, it’s exactly what I needed. People tend to be most critical of themselves and when that comes to what we write, it is never more true. We are critical of our words, our sentence structures, our dialogues, our imagery. And it can trip us up, cause writer’s block, and make us put away the story for days, weeks, or even months. In NaNoWriMo, you can’t do that. You have to keep writing, even when you think the story is crap, even when the plot is going in a direction you didn’t imagine. It teaches you how to take those insecurities about your writing and throw them out the window for now – just write, even if it’s crap.

3. It provides you with a road map.

Before completing NaNoWriMo, I had no idea what writing a novel entailed. I had the passion for it. I had the drive, the desire. But I never got deep into the nitty-gritty of writing a novel. I never fully developed characters and plots. My mind is constantly in motion with story ideas. Characters are always on my mind. But I never brought these characters to life. For the first time, a story that has been on my heart for years finally came to life. And it didn’t turn out anywhere near the way I planned it in my head but that’s the beauty of writing a story – nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

Completing NaNoWriMo showed me just what writing a novel is all about. And in a crazy, fast-paced way. I wrote almost 2,400 words a day (on top of having a full-time job and blogging three times a week!) and it didn’t really feel like work. It felt like exactly what I should be doing. It showed me what novel writing is all about and why I want to do this, even when my work remains hidden in the depths of my computer.

While the story I wrote for last year’s NaNoWriMo project didn’t turn out to be something I wanted to publish, it was still a worthwhile experience and I took so many good lessons about the craft of writing from it. It opened me up, made me vulnerable, and showed me that writing is exactly what I want to do with my life. In any shape or form. Writing is in my blood and it is what I am meant to be doing.

NaNoWriMo 2013 is coming up in November and I’m already preparing for another successful month of writing and gaining that winner badge. It’s a magical time and I hope I’ve convinced some of you enough to try your hand at it. It may take you a few attempts before everything clicks, but all those attempts are leading you to success. Promise.