NaNoFu**It

Photo by Brian Wangenheim
Picture of road through the desert stretching into the horizon, mountains in the distance

So it is November again, that time of year when people all over the globe participate in NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a 50,000 word “novel” during the month of November. That averages out to 1,667 words a day, every day of the month.

I call it NaNoFuckIt, because I start every time, generally make my wordcount the first day or two and then get hopelessly behind and quit sometime about day six.

I stopped doing NaNoWriMo for several years, but this year I’ve decided to do it again. I have learned a few things since my last attempt. First of all I have actually completed a novel, not yet published, but working on that. That book is 120,000 words and took me four years to write, but I learned a lot about how to do things. One thing I learned is that I need an outline. I’m not a pantser.

Another thing I learned, is that I can actually finish something. Having a finished project even if it is crap can instill a sense of confidence. My motto is done is better than perfect, done is better even than “good”. I’m sure lots of people have brilliant half finished books in their drawers. I’d rather have a sucky done book that I can wave around, yelling “Look what I can do!”

I used to run a lot of long distance races. I have finished more races than I’d like to admit as literally the last person, the race event coordinators following me pulling up the course markers. So I know something about the value of finishing even if by others standards you haven’t even remotely “won” the race.

So I wrote myself a rather imperfect vague outline for this NaNoWriMo novel attempt. It is a science fiction lesbian romance. An Empire spy inadvertently hires an rebel soldier, who deserted and is in hiding on a backwater planet, to transport her across the hostile planet surface to complete her mission.

I feel a bit like my characters trudging along from point A trying to reach point B with many obstacles before them. Hopefully we will all make it to the other side.

Update: I didn’t get to 50K, but I did get to about 30K. I almost gave up after my usual four days, but I got a second wind the last half of the month. Best I’ve ever done.