Alan Kercinik has been a Chicagoan his whole life and a dad since 2009. He finds it easy to relate to his two boys, since he still likes most things from his childhood. All opinions here are his own, to the relief of his wife, employer, family and majority of his friends.
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NaNoWriMo.
It sounds like Mork from Ork’s once-for-some-reason-popular greeting. It’s actually a form of writerly torture. Torture that could only be matched by, say, sitting down and watching an episode of Mork and Mindy.
NanoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. The goal or challenge or insane undertaking, depending on your point of view, is to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in one month.
I know people who can’t read a book in one month, much less write one.
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I’ve done NaNoWriMo twice now. By “done”, I mean participated. I have not yet crammed 50K or words into the 30 day time limit.
In 2007, I remember getting about thirty thousand words in, but I was using November as an excuse to play around with an idea and gave myself until the end of the year to wrap a draft. A goal I met. (And have since not touched that book.)
Last year was a disaster, as far as these things go. I don’t think I cracked ten thousand words.
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The fine folks who run this little experiment / community give you a ton of maxims to try and remember.
Go for quantity, not quality.
This novel doesn’t have to be good. It just needs to be written. (Also known as the Dan Brown Edict.)
It’s only 1,667 words every day.
These are all well and good. And helpful, in their way. (Especially the word count each day bit. The worst thing, and I do mean the worst thing, is not sitting down for a couple of days and looking ahead to a weekend where you have to crank out 10,000 words in one sitting to stay on track.)
But anyone who takes their writing seriously, who really wants to be good at it, these are some extremely difficult things to keep in mind.
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I like feel of NaNoWriMo starting on Halloween weekend this year. Hauntings are common, with ghosts and goblins skulking around every corner.
Writing can be the same. Insecurities, they pop up like ghosts.
For me, it’s those few minutes before I go into my office. Am I good enough? Am I learned enough? Do I have anything worth saying? Is this even a good idea?
That’s why I’m tossing my proverbial hat into the ring this year.
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There’s a ton of reasons.
One, I like a challenge. I’ve not finished with this one. So why not try again?
I’ve this book idea that I’ve let sit, given the birth of the kid and all, for about a year. I’m writing a kids’ book with a friend. Tackling another story with another writing partners. But this one idea … I just can’t quit it. There’s something there. So I’m revisiting and tackling a third draft, to see where it takes me.
I like the externally-driven urgency, the need to get something down every day. I’ll consider it renewing my vows with my writing.
I believe in threes. This is the third time in.
And the weather here is really starting to suck. What else is there to do?
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Want to toss your hat in to NaNoWriMo? Go here.
Want to track my progress and shower me with catcalls if my word count starts to suffer? Go here.
Want to buy me a coffee this month? Well, that’s fine, too. I’m starting pretty late on Saturday night and could use one.
3 comments
1 ping
rdaggett says:
October 30, 2009 at 7:40 pm (UTC -5 )
@AlanKercinik Awesome. Good luck to you sir.
anne wagner says:
October 30, 2009 at 8:20 pm (UTC -5 )
Alan-
I am in! I just got back from Italy and have an idea for a novel.
Thanks
Annie
anne wagner says:
October 30, 2009 at 3:20 pm (UTC -5 )
Alan-
I am in! I just got back from Italy and have an idea for a novel.
Thanks
Annie
rdaggett says:
October 30, 2009 at 7:40 pm (UTC -5 )
@AlanKercinik Awesome. Good luck to you sir.