How I "Won" NaNoWriMo
Putting something you love out in the world is scary. Whether it’s something you’re good at, something you’re passionate about, or just the kernel of an idea…it’s really scary to share with the world that you’re doing something. However, it’s also really motivating. So often, we only hear about people’s success after they’ve gotten “the thing.” In this case, a book deal or a published novel. But I think celebrating the wins along the way is equally as important.
I’ve wanted to write a book since I was in the fourth grade. Since I was nine years old, I’ve written poems, short stories, fan fiction, and now I can add 2 1/2 full length novels to the list.( My poetry is published but none of my full length pieces have been. Hopefully one day!)
This year, 2022, was my fourth year doing NaNoWriMo and my most successful. I learned a lot about my process, but that’s how I’ve felt after every time I attempted the challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That’s the challenge of National Novel Writing Month: write 50,000 new words over 30 days in the month of November. However, this year I wanted to up the challenge for myself: 80,000 words in 30 days.
For those that don’t know, a contemporary Romance novel averages about 80,000 words. As that is the genre I’m writing in, that’s what I set for myself. And I did it! It feels really good to have achieved this goal I set for myself. My book needs a whole lot of editing and is nowhere near ready to be read by anyone, but I’m hopeful that now that the first draft is out of the way, I’ll have something solid to edit and make the best it can be.
How I Prepared:
I’m a freelancer so I made sure that I got my work in a place where i could devote time and mental energy to writing nearly 3,000 words a day. I started this prep in the middle of August because I knew I wanted to take September off from my personal writing projects.
Chose the Idea I was Most Passionate About—I had the idea for this book last November (2021) and it had stuck around in my brain ever since. That’s how you know it’s going to be something worth spending time on, because I kept thinking about it!
Stream of Consciousness Brain Dump—I love a good brain dump. I wrote out everything that came to mind when it I thought of this idea. Settings, character names, dialogue, scenes I knew I wanted to write, personal conflict, relationship conflict, families, etc.
Made a Plan—To write 80,000 words, I knew I had have to write 2,667 words per day. I made time every morning and wrote until a scene was “finished.” Usually, I wrote past 2,667 which was helpful for days I was extra busy, uninspired, or tired.
Didn’t Beat Myself Up If I Missed a Day—One of the reasons I love NaNoWriMo is because it focuses on breaking down a goal day by day. It also encourages discipline. The hardest part of writing is sitting down and writing. My best work comes when I am in the zone and sometimes it takes a few tries to get into the flow of it. Since it’s November, I knew I was going to take some days off for Thanksgiving. Since I wrote ahead most days in the first two weeks, I had a little wiggle room to do this.
Resources I Love
Abbie Emmons’ YouTube Channel—I didn’t participate in any of Abbie’s writing sprints, but I find her Writer’s Life Wednesday series to be very helpful and motivating.
Save the Cat Writes a Novel—A classic. It can be a bit dry at parts, but every time I revisit it, I am reminded that there is a formula to follow for successful storytelling and that makes it feel attainable.
Writer to Writer—I wanted to write books because of Gail Carson Levine, so I love this book.
Romancing the Beat—A fantastic recourse for any other Romance writers out there.
Hannah Orenstein’s Instagram Account/Facebook Group—Hannah is a bestselling author and I really like how she shares her writing updates. I also love her writing group of Facebook to connect with other Romance writers.
What I Learned:
I am more of Plotter than I Thought—I wrote the most extensive outline I’ve ever written for this book and it was the fastest I’ve ever written a draft. I also felt so secure in what I was writing (until the end…I definitely got tired and hit that stretch where I felt it was terrible, so i threw in some wild card things).
I can write for longer stretches of time—I used to challenge myself to one hour writing sprints and say I only wanted to write at least 1k a day. But I am actually must more successful when I really lose myself in the world I’m creating.
I have to put my phone away—I cannot write in the same room with my phone. I get tired and discouraged and instead of working it out on paper, I scroll.
I can writing a draft from start to finish—Most of my first drafts have taken months to churn out. That felt frustrating to me and made me question my talent/drive. I loved being this focused and it feels much more sustainable to me to devote a shorter amount of time to drafts so that I can get to the good part: editing.
Community is Everything—It’s scary to share that you’re working on something, but I had close friends I could check in with every day who cheered me on (Amber and Alexa, I love you both so much) and my Instagram and TikTok communities were the best cheerleaders. As scary as it is to say, “I’m doing this!” having the support of all of you kept me going.
What’s Next:
I have three books in “production” right now. One is a project I’m co-writing which I call Project L, one is what I am calling Book 1 and my 2022 NaNoWriMo project I’m calling Book 2. I wrote the draft of Book 1 June-August 2022. I am ready to go back to it so I want to reread it in December and make notes, then begin editing it. Once that round of edits is done, i’m planning on sharing it with a trusted writer friend. And while that’s out, I’ll edit Book 2 and repeat the same projexess.
Project L needs a second draft but it’s going to be quite different from the first, so it’s been daunting to go back to. But, in 2023, I will go back to it!
My ultimate goal is to pursue traditional publishing. I don’t plan on sharing that timeline but one day, hopefully I’ll be able to share these stories with anyone who wants to read them!