National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is fast approaching. Here one writer shares why she takes up the challenge of writing a novel in 30 days.
By Alegra Clarke
I have to admit, I am a bit of NaNoWriMo bully. It brings out my evangelistic side. When listing reasons that a reluctant writer buddy should join this year’s NaNoWriMo, I pound the desk like it is a pulpit (because pounding the desk always goes a long way to convince people). As October gains momentum towards November, I dust off last year’s manuscript like it is a holy book of inspiration. I feel the weight of the pages, the 50,000 words in my hands. So what if 85% of it is gibberish? It is still a glorious thing.
“NaNoWriMo taught me that there is more time to write in a day than we might think…”
I don’t enter NaNoWriMo with expectations that I will come out on the other end of thirty days with a coherent novel. November is an excuse to live on a diet of chocolate, coffee, and crunchy-salty foods. It is a month to fully indulge the habits of my strange writer-self, such as walking down the street mumbling as I scribble notes and bump into lamp posts. It is an opportunity to buy a pretty notebook and a smooth-gliding ballpoint. But more than that, completing a NaNoWriMo forever changed the limitations I had previously placed on myself as a writer. NaNoWriMo taught me that there is more time to write in a day than we might think, and that discipline is the greatest weapon against the internal critic perched hungrily in my mind.
I am tempted to refer to NaNoWriMo as a “writers’ bootcamp” but that sounds like punishment. I prefer the idea that it is the writers’ version of running with the bulls in Spain. I think most of us have bulls snorting at the gates of our mind: procrastination, self-doubt, anxiety, excuse-making, poor time management, and other various limitations we place on our ability to write. NaNoWriMo provides us the opportunity to line those bulls up and, in the company of good friends, challenge those bulls to chase us to the finish line.
It takes more than fear of being trampled to meet the daily word count. NaNoWriMo success requires a celebratory abandonment of all the things that keep those bulls snorting at us for the other eleven months of the year. Perfectionism and over-thinking are the first two things that must be dropped in order to keep up speed. Procrastination and excuse-making quickly become suffocating garments to be shed.
A sweaty, laughing madwoman
By the time I am halfway into the month I am the literary equivalent of a sweaty, laughing, madwoman running down the street half-naked…but I am in good company, lost in a crowd of other delirious NaNoWriMo-ers. It doesn’t even matter if we reach the 50,000 words, as long as we have kept one step ahead of the bulls.
I could end this blog with listing various arguments for NaNoWriMo, such as the fact that I now have a storehouse of words that I can fall back upon whenever needed. Last year’s manuscript is full of sentences I can recycle and chapters I can draw upon. And, I admit that this year, I have hopes I will emerge from the 30 days with the first half of my novel written. But really, I believe everyone should run with the bulls at least once before they die. Everyone should turn around, wave their red flag at their fears, and then run like crazy.
Check out NaNoWrimo for yourself—if you dare to write with the bulls go here.
Will you be participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Any tips or advice? Share here along with your NaNo handle.
Alegra Clarke is writing as “Skeeterfish” on NaNoWriMo this year. Visit her blog.
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Always a pleasure to hear from Alegra – and inspiring to hear you’re going to run with the bulls in November again this year. I’m thinking of taking up the sport next month myself – wanna run with me?
Very nice post that captures the madness that is NaNo.
This will be my fifth year participating and hopefully winning :)
If I had one piece (or more) of advice…hmmm. Think in blocks of 500 words at a time. This is based on my average scene being about 600 words. Some days the required 1667 words seemed overwhelming and I have to break it down even further in my head.
Use rewards (mine are e-mail and honey sesame candies, one for each 500 words.)
And expect the sitting down and typing it in to be the least of it. A proper NaNo experience will occupy your every waking moment. Lots of things can and will be worked out in your mind during chores, downtime and your real job.
Support, therefore, is very important, either through the NaNo forum, local write-ins or using an accountability buddy. (My husband is very helpful, he shoves me out of bed and says, “Go write.”)
My user name is Novahammett. Hope to see you all there!
Val K
This will be my first year doing NaNoWriMo. I am hoping it helps push away the procrastination bug that I am constantly wrestling with. Ive even set up on my blog for people to join with me and have everyone’s total word counts posted in a weekly update throughout November.
My NaNoWriMo user name is moonduster . I haven’t yet figured out how to add friends there though.
Excellent post. I retweeted.
I love your phrase “It brings out my evangelistic side.” I am constantly “encouraging” others to join in the madness as well. The goal is not to write a publishable book but to learn something along the way. Sometimes it is POV or voice. Others it yields up a gem of a story or some raw, lump of material.
Looking forward to seeing you on the otherside of 50,000 words.
Hello. My name is drwasy…. and I am a NaNo addict.
Fabu post, Alegra – and when did you whip out this ‘assignment’ ;^)
You know I’m running with the bulls. Last year I did not have time for NaNo, but I did it anyway and came up with 52k words. Who cares if most of those wordsl ended up on the scrap heap? It was prewriting at its best, and allowed me to immerse myself into my characters and their dilemmas.
This year, I’m a tad more organzied and have an outline of sorts to be a more directed writer.
Goodluck and have fun! Peace, Linda
Hi everyone!
Just a quick correction, my username on NaNo is: Skeeterfish.
Tomi – of course, you were on my mind when I wrote this.
Valerie – those are some great tips. It is intimidating to sit down sometimes and contemplate a nearly 2,000 word stretch. I have found that I have to do the same as you – break it down into smaller chunks throughout the day. And, it does occupy you the entire month, no matter what you are doing!
Becky – I have found NaNoWriMo is an amazing antidote to procrastination and although I can’t claim it will erase it from your life for ever after, I do believe that it will change your relationship to it.
Nicole – Thanks! And I agree. While there are some people capable of writing a finished product in thirty days, for me it is more about process and the raw material I have at the end.
Linda – This post was born yesterday as a matter of fact (I think my nesting hormones are finally kicking in!) I can’t wait to have you running by my side this year. There will be plenty of laughs watching you taunt the bulls I am sure.
Nah. Me, I participate in NoWriLi: Novel Writing Life. It’s not as popular a movement as NaNoWriMo, but I think it tends to produce better results in the long run.
I really liked this post and it made me feel that maybe I’m not mad for attempting this this year – I’m doing it to try and get back into doing anything after being sick.
I’m 5affy on the forum :)
I’ve actually started a blog for nano specifically :) sort of doing all the outlining and stuff there and collecting cool resources about writing!
Great post–I love the analogy of running with the bulls. ;)
This will be my sixth year doing it (username: Mercwriter) and I’m greatly looking forward to it. (Maybe I’ll finish a novel this time–rather than just hitting 50k, lol. One can hope!)
~Merc
While I am quite certain I will be one of the poor saps who gets gored in the posterior, I will be running with Los Toros for NaNoMiMoFeFiFoWriWroJoJo.
This will be my second year doing NaNo. Last year I wasn’t working full time and I found it almost too easy (I hit the 50k by the 14th or 15th and was over 90k by the end of the month). This year I’m working a little more than full time, as a writer, so it’s going to be a bit more of a challenge.
But if you break it down, it’s less than 1700 words/day. If we expect to be writers, to be published authors someday, I think we all need to be able to meet those kinds of work loads. For my work, I regularly write 3-4 times that in a day (I usually write about 6-8 articles/week). But that’s nonfiction and definitely much easier than writing 6-8k words of fiction in a day (which I’ve also done, though only for a few days in a row before I burned out).
The main strategy I had for NaNo last year was to write as much as I could whenever I could. I wrote when I had company, in the car, in bed, while watching TV, and virtually any other time I could have my laptop in front of me. This year will be much of the same, though I’ll be fitting it in around writing 6k words or so of nonfiction every day, too. (Too bad I can’t include those words in my overall word count…)
Will – Ha! I agree but you know, there is something glorious about taking a month out of the steady pace and running half naked down the street with big beasts chasing you.
Sarah – I think the more community you create (via blogs etc.) the more fun/more productive you will be. It is great fun to participate in such an act of collective madness. It is like a great uprising against all of those internal critics that plague writers most of the year.
Merc – Yes, I have some hopes to come out of November with something that isn’t finished but a step towards a finished product. I am going to be doing some outlining of scenes prior to the kickoff.
Greg – You have saved me from pointing my bible at you. I was just going to IM you this morning and begin my campaign.
Cameron – This is excellent point (about the daily word count) and one of the main things I learned from NaNoWriMo. 1700 words a day really isn’t that much (if we are talking quantity not quality) and realizing this changed my attitude towards writing. I look at it as building up endurance, no different than physical training. When you are out of shape, a twenty minute run feels like an hour, but when you are in condition, a twenty minute run is just a warm up.
I have thought of doing NaNoWriMo, but I’m really not sure if my calendar could take it. Sure, there is a lot more time in my day than I’m giving myself credit for, but between regular writing deadlines (self imposed and other) and work, I’m not sure if an additional 50k words in a month are feasable. I’m already writing about 5k per week and pushing it.
I know the excuse of “next year, next year for sure” is old and lame, but I can’t help but always feelt hat way, especially with a wedding in 3 weeks and the honeymoon taking up the first week of Nov. Maybe I’ll surprise myself or take the NaNoWriMo challenge and apply it to my blog. 50k words in article form for my blog sounds easy enough, right? ;)
@Alegra-All apologies for the typo in your Nano handle. It’s fixed. :) Skeeterfish!
Maria – No worries, and thank you!
Prof Beej – Wow, it sounds like you have a full writing plate. I definitely don’t think every year is a NaNoWriMo year, if you are already engaged in writing projects it might be overload…and a honeymoon IS a honeymoon. Best on the wedding!
Alegra, I’ve never so totally agreed with a post ever. Every word, comma, space. I’m sending this around to some people who need to hear it. 15 day countdown starts in 3 days. “Oldbaldguy” who just buddied you, that’s me. Okay. Going to go practice my snorts now.
It changed the way I regard word count. I realized that it is indeed easy to hammer out 1500 or 2000 words a day. In fact I was doing that without realizing it before because I wrote over the course of many projects in a days time.
This year is my third NaNoWriMo and I have decided to post my output daily on my blog. For me the point is not necessarily a story to shop, but an exercise in writing.
Okay, okay. You’ve got me. I’m just arrogant enough to believe this was all for me. Slick of you to play on my running with the bulls obsession. Even if I only squeak out 15,000 words, it’ll be worth it.
Well with the gospel of Alegra ringing in my ears, how can I resist?
OK, but I need tips. How to I talk the wonderful Wife Prince into giving me the time and space after spending the last two years completing my MBA in the evening and most weekends?
“It’s just one month honey!”
“I’m doing it for us honey!”
“When I get published we’ll be rich like J.K.R. honey!”
What do you think? Will she buy it?
Sid.
Bill – all credit for commas go to Maria ;o)…I use commas with blind zeal. I am thrilled that we will be running together. Knowing that you will be in the company I will be keeping gives me a boost of expectation for the final outcome. Plus, it promises we will have a helluva good time.
Annie – This was true for me too. I am now able to mentally break down bigger projects into smaller bites and realize they are far more manageable than I previously believed.
PJ – Your ears must be itching with my prayers of conversion. You know you are top on my list buddy-O. I had no idea about the bulls (unless of course you told me over the course of our liquid gold adventure but I can not be held responsible for retaining anything that occurred during those witching hours).
Sid – She’ll totally buy it. Especially if you say it to her while you are rubbing her feet and smiling with charm.
I’m still deciding if I want to run with the bulls this year or not — never have before, but I’ve found a tool that I think might help NaNoWriMo participants and intend to use it myself if I pull a Hemingway this year. ;) I’ve blogged about it over on my website.
Thanks for a great post.
I’m glad I happened across this post. I don’t really have the time for NaNo this year, but it’s been good to me — my 2007 project will be published next year.
I’m fleshing out my project and if I can handle it, I’ll be on the bandwaggon come November 1. My handle there is xaymacagirl.
I’m a NaNoWriMo virgin. This is my first attempt. I wrote a novel in three months through MediaBistro and I thought that was tough. So this 30 days lark is going to be tough! Good luck to one and all – even though I still don’t have a cohesive idea of what I will write about yet (and there’s under three weeks to go!)
What a great post! One of my favorite October activities is evangelizing about NaNoWriMo! This will be my second year, and I am so excited about it. I love that you have already converted some people with this post!
I’ve found that I do better timing myself than striving for a word count. I set a timer and promise myself not to do anything but write (not edit!) my NaNoWriMo for 1 hour, then I go back and read what I wrote, laugh hysterically, and set the timer again for 45 minutes and write more. For me, it’s much easier to get through an hour of doing something than X number of something.
I don’t consider myself a writer, but I found the exercise of NaNoWriMo extremely helpful in my other creative pursuits … the inner editor needs to be shut down sometimes for something truly amazing to happen!
Alegra convinced me. I’m FireHeart on NaNo. :)
Better make sure I’m stocked up on flavored coffee creamer for November.
I am excited about it. I will finish this year… or die trying!
~2
The only tip I have is if you’re feeling overwhelmed, set a timer for 5, 10, or 15, minutes and focus on your writing for that time. It got me though the last few days of NaNoWriMo when my wrists were hurting from all the typing. I Hope that this year will be easier.
NaNoWriMo ID: StancyMcKatt
“Me, I participate in NoWriLi”
I actually Googled that, smarty pants.
Me!
Iapetus999
ONLY THE WEAK DO NOT DARE TO TRY NANOWRIMO, FOR THEY ARE WEAK AND COWARD. Caps lock gives us power, the power necessary to go through with it, to write, write and write.
I sure am writing 50k words this november, unless I die.
Great post Alegra. I love the analogy. It IS an analogy, right? I mean, there aren’t going to be actual bulls, are there?
I’m debating with myself if I’m going to do NaNoWriMo this year the same way I did last year – with a fountain pen and pad. I’ve found the subsequent typing more of a challenge than I had expected – almost as bad as the initial writing. I haven’t come to a decision yet on how – but I will be doing NaNoWriMo (I’m kjmackey there).
But, I do have this nice pen I’d like to take out for a real test drive…
I can’t believe it, writing a full-length novel in just 30 days? Wow, all you guys are simply awesome.
Wooow I go away to sleep and zillions of posts!
Alegra thanks – I was worrying about the blog things as people have been telling I’m being stupid putting all the stuff up on there but I can’t see me having the impetus to write otherwise to be honest :/
HD – Run! Run! Run! :o)
Jayda – Congrats on the publication, what an inspiring achievement! I love hearing that people have come out on the other end with something that ended up published.
Bronte – I think a key (at least for me) with the thirty days is the NaNoWriMo slogan ‘Literary abandon’…meaning just focusing on making the word count each day. People approach it with various levels of focus, some have outlines etc, some just a rough idea they want to explore. I hope you take the plunge!
Valerie – Thank you! What you wrote, “the inner editor needs to be shut down sometimes for something truly amazing to happen!” sums it up perfectly. I am always impressed when people come out on the other end with usable material, but my main goal in getting others to participate is to experience that breakthrough. I know I need it, and am looking forward to it this year.
Karen – I love flavored coffee creamer. i am a sucker for Irish Cream.
2mara – I am looking forward to running with you, we can drag one another (and Kemari) one step ahead of the stampede.
Aimee – You have to stay on your toes around Mr. Entrekin
Monoolho – Capitals and the use of multiple exclamation marks ;o)
KjM – well… Sometimes it FEELS like there are actual bulls involved. I am so impressed that you did it by hand. I only resort to the notebook for when I am out and about, away from the laptop. This doesn’t stop me from buying the pretty notebook and special pen, I just find it easier to keep up with my thoughts because i can type faster than I can write. I am on my way to buddy up with you!
Elmot – most of us only meet the wordcount, very different from actually producing a full-length novel :o). Although, having said that, there are some superstar writers who actually pull it off with 50,000 words that add up to something usable.
I just signed up. Feels like a mountain to climb, bu i’m u for it!
Great post, Alegra. I’m a NaNo evangelist too — already got two work friends to go for it. This will be my 4th year, but my first win!
The thing that has helped me the most, especially last year (when I more than quadrupled my word count from the year before), is going to my local write-ins. Getting out of the house and sitting with similarly crazy people at Panera Bread to write for an hour or three is invigorating. Give it a try.
I’m creative.reboot at NaNo, and I’ll be your Buddy if you want. :-)
I too am participating in NaNoWriMo this year for the first time. I am looking forward to the experience with dread and excitement. I love the energy this blog is infused with and I hope that I can feel even a fraction of that energy next month when I am wondering if I was crazy to even think of participating.
My NaNo handle is CLNorman.
Amen, Alegra! Exactly why I love NaNoWriMo, too! The two years I attempted it (and didn’t finish, drat!) weren’t wasted. I’ve learned to press forward. I suppress the editor in me and I don’t look back. It’s freed me to put absolute swill on the paper in an attempt to reach the end. The elusive end of any novel, for me, is the Holy Grail.
My NaNo name is lwidmer (go figure).
Great article! Thank you for sharing the Good News about hardcore marathon noveling… I’m a believer! :D
I love NaNo. There’s something wonderful about plunging in with no expectations other than hitting the goal… hey, if it sucks, it’s not like anyone has to read it. :) You may not get the next Great American Novel, but you’ll learn something… and have 50K+ of raw material to play with later.
My handle is charisangel. See you in the bull pen!
You inspired me. My novel is written, but needs to be fleshed out and the missing elements added. I take the challenge.
What an apt analogy. And I imagine I’ve just barely missed a few lamposts during my aimless walks as I muttered to myself causing people to do double takes at the “crazy” woman.
This is my 5th year participating. Last year was my first “win” year. I had never been so proud of myself. I hurried to print my certificate and it hangs in a spot of prominence in my room (hoping someday to get a frame). My biggest thing is learning to let go…of it all. Mostly my perfectionism. Once that was gone the words just flowed out, only stemmed by my 4 kids constantly interrupting me. So I wrote at night…long into the night, only to awake a few hours later to get the kids up for school.
Despite the constant exhaustion I never felt more alive as I sat at 2am, eyes blurry from lack of sleep, several empty cans of pop littering my desk as I tried to push out a few hundred more words before falling into my bed (fully clothed) to sleep until 6am. Can’t wait for another go around.
nano name: jennickels
Wow, I really enjoyed this post and the enthusiasm for the event has added even more excitement to my own preparations. I almost love October as much as November because of all the excitement around the web as people look forward to the next month.
I loved this bit the best:
“But more than that, completing a NaNoWriMo forever changed the limitations I had previously placed on myself as a writer. NaNoWriMo taught me that there is more time to write in a day than we might think, and that discipline is the greatest weapon against the internal critic perched hungrily in my mind.”
There is more time to write than I may think. I just need to find out where it is.
I’m going for my hat trick this year.
Also going for 100K words.
Laura Rainbow Dragon — http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/200650
NaNovelist Woes — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT_AqEcX2Ok
(A story about NaNoWriMo, its aftermath, and the realization that the writing process continues long after we say goodnight on November 30th!)
While many NaNoers do consider the challenge “an excuse to live on a diet of chocolate, coffee, and crunchy-salty foods” for a month, one of the best pieces of advice I can offer for NaNo success is not to do this. If you’re young and your body can still take the abuse, well then, that’s your call, but for the post-20 crowd, the last thing you want to do when you’re going to be pushing yourself hard for a month is eat a lot of junk. The times I know I’m going to be uber-busy are the times I work extra hard at maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Cook some healthy meals now and freeze them. Lay in healthy food which can be prepared quickly during November. And get a good physical exercise regime established now. You want your daily hike/bike/run/swim/ski/whatever it is you do to be a well-established routine by the time November 1st rolls around — or it will be the first thing to go once the NaNo time crunch hits.
A key aspect of NaNoWriMo and an important motivating factor is the community. Find yourself a good one now. If you live in a large metropolitan area, there is likely already a Wrimo group in your town. Make sure you register for your home region on your NaNo profile, check out your regional forum, and try to get out to the kick off party and some write-ins. If Wrimos are sparse in your neighbourhood and you cannot travel to the nearest group, look for a Wrimo community online. Wrimos gather together in virtual worlds (there’s a large group in Second Life, the “SL Wrimos” who meet regularly throughout November) and many online writing communities have members who participate in NaNo and cheer each other on throughout the month. Last, but not least, the NaNoWriMo forums themselves are a source of community throughout NaNo — but take the time to find where you fit on the forums now. Surfing through all of them is a huge time killer. By the time November 1 hits, you want to have pared the list of forums which you check regularly down to a very few. Go to “My NaNoWriMo >> Customize Forums” and hide all of the forums you’re not going to be checking in with. Doing this reduces load on NaNo’s servers, makes your view of the Forums page clean and short, and hopefully will prevent you from being tempted to waste too much time in there during November.
If competition spurs you on, get yourself some writing buddies who you know are good for the mileage and check in with their word count daily. If, on the other hand, competition turns you off, then stay away from other people’s word counts. NaNoWriMo is about challenging yourself, and it’s not helpful to beat yourself up because you cannot keep up with another participant who for any number of reasons may simply have an easier time than you pounding out the words.
Give yourself permission to write badly. Seriously. We all like to do things well, but perfectionism can really get in the way of NaNo success. The goal of NaNoWriMo is not to produce a manuscript worthy of submitting to a professional publisher on December 1st. The goal is to produce the first draft of a manuscript which, following much hard work after November, may one day be ready to submit to a publisher. (And if you never want to publish it, that’s fine too. There is worth in writing your story for yourself. There is worth in proving to yourself that you can.)
Most of all, have fun. Give yourself permission to climb out on a limb. Give yourself permission to fall off it. Learn that you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try all over again. Just go out there and do it!
Thank you everyone, so glad to meet so many other enthusiasts. It is going to be a great year! I have written everyone’s NaNo name down and will seek you out – or, please, come find me (my internet seems to really lag on the NaNoWriMo site).
Laura – Does sugar-free chocolate and flavored rice cakes count as ‘healthy’? ;o)
Exercise is always a must for me, it helps me think.
I’ll be seeing you at the start of the race, Alegra. lol. Got myself a new pair of sneakers and a new note book. You’re right about the crazies coming out to play during NaNoWriMo. It’s so darn fun to party with that crowd. Last year, I fell asleep on my Keyboard and barely made the deadline.
Gotta do it with writing buddies who shout out if you’re quiet too long.
Ravenne
I won’t be participating in NaNoWriMo this year because like running races, I find the deadline and the group situation brings out my competitive and comparative side and I spend more time thinking about how much I have left to do and how I compare to others than on the progress I’m making and how much fun I’m having.
For example when I go run on my own, I can run for nearly 2 hours without wanting to stop, but I run a 10K race and I spend nearly the whole time thinking about giving up.
With my writing, I do 1200 words a day (plus my non-fiction stuff) each workday and in 3 and a half months I have the first draft of a novel finished. It takes longer but I’m happier. ;)
Laurel – so glad to hear you will be part of the madness this year! I totally agree that doing it with writing buddies who shout out at you is a must, I am looking forward to having more of that group energy this year. Last year, NaNoWriMo happened while I was back in California visiting family and I mostly did it on my own steam.
Alex – You have a great working habit with your writing, I envy that. As a runner, I imagine you ‘get’ that a good writing habit is like training, the more consistent you are with your daily workout, the easier it gets and the more of a necessary routine it becomes. I think NaNoWriMo can be fun just for the group enthusiasm and the madness of it all, but for me, especially right now, it is primarily to break through that inner critic and to get into a flow with my current project. It sounds like you already have that going for you.
Hmm. Well, they’re better than candy bars and potato chips. :)
I like the dark chocolate myself. 70% cocoa. Not sugar free, but not so insanely high in sugar as milk chocolate. Plus, you get a bigger chocolate hit from less of it. Everything in moderation.
Great article! As an NaNoWriMo winner myself I can confirm your positive experiences.
I recently discovered NaNoWriMo through Twitter. My first thought was, “Feh. I have no time.” But, the idea took root in my mind and grew into the notion of an opportunity I have decided I can’t pass up. I’m not necessarily expecting great results, but am expecting to have a great time trying.
I am knee deep in NaNo but still about 15K off the mark for where I “should” be. NaNo has taught me valuable lessons in perseverance and focus better than five years of martial arts. It’s also given me creative ways to tell my internal critic and internal editor, “Shut up. I’ll call you when I need you.”
And as a freelance editor, that’s saying something.
Whatever you write for NaNoWriMo, it’s important to remember that perfection is not the goal. Time at the keyboard equals words on the page, and that puts you closer to a Novel. Good luck!
This was my third NaNo. I finished ten days early. What I do is think of 5000 word chapters, each with its own little arc. That gives me a 3 day-ish mini-goal that I can easily make in two if I am jazzed up enough.
I am evangelical about NaNo, too, but in a sphere that is unusual. I run a forum for people with manic depression (Bipolar Disorder). I have it, too. Most of us are on medications like Lithium, which people generally believe kill creativity. I am proof it doesn’t. Each of my NaNo novels was completed early, and each was then expanded to over 100,000 words.
This year I brought two people with me and they finished, too. I wanted to mention this because the rate of manic depression among writers is higher than that for the genera population, and one of the biggest complaints of this neurological disorder is the inability to commit to or complete projects, most of all creative ones.
My goal next year is to bring at least five with me. I know I can do it. :)
Chairce – I love what you are doing. I know several people with manic depression and I can understand the power of what you are promoting based on witnessing what they struggle with, including, as you said, the fear that medication will dull their creativity and the vicious cycle of beginning things but not being able to finish them (something I think is powerful for all of us to experience!). I applaud your commitment and passion to enrolling and empowering more people through the NaNoWriMo medium.
That’s a great idea–30 chapter headings. And applying Nanowrimo to manic depression is an amazing idea. It’s odd and ironic how some of the mental or emotional conditions we struggle with in daily life (I have mine) are often viewed as fueling great creative work. It’s true that manic depressives, in their “manic” periods, have written great stuff (Hemingway). But I imagine writers who struggle with this condition yearn most of all for consistency. You’ve recognized that consistency is the foundation idea Nanowrimo is built on and done something with it.