Issue 6 2010 - TLS - Victoria University

Lost for words: Lessons from NaNoWriMo
by Lucia Nardo
www.nanowrimo.org
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
has become a worldwide phenomenon for
writers of all levels of experience. The concept is
simple: churn out 50,000 words of a new novel
in the month of November.
I’d heard lots from writers who’d taken on the
challenge, but never thought about doing it
myself. On impulse I registered. To my surprise I
discovered a NaNoWriMo-me. She taught me a
lot. This is some of what I learned:
Meet the challenge
An eager novice, I gave myself an appropriate
user name, ‘whatamithinking’. I sat at my blank
screen filled with a mix of trepidation, optimism
and a good dash of caffeine and with one part
of my brain singing my mantra, ‘What am I
thinking’
NaNoWriMo-me argued, ‘This could be fun.
Get to know me.’
So, I wrote.
Persistence pays
First day I churned out two thousand words.
I was on my way! Until Word crashed and
consigned my document to an inaccessible part
of the PC. I’d need the entire ‘Without a Trace’
team to have any chance of seeing it again. So,
it was only day one and I was ready to chuck it
in. But hey, I was on the Gold Coast and sunrise
was around 4:30 a.m. I figured rising early
would give me a chance to catch up. By day two,
it was clear that holidays and dedicated writing
didn’t mix. Sun, sand and surf beat out the
screen each time.
‘You’ll find time if it’s important,’ said
NaNoWriMo-me.
I found pockets of time during the day to
write—five minutes here, ten minutes there. The
word count climbed.
I kept writing.
Carry a toolbox
The NaNoWriMo website provides lots of tools
for the writing journey. Graphs and charts to
measure your progress, a merchandise store
(where not surprisingly the book, ‘No Plot
No problem’ is the only ‘sold out’ item). There
are regional groups you can link with, writing
buddies, events to attend and regular ‘rah-rah’
emails from mentors. NaNoWriMo-me didn’t
use all those resources, but it was good to know
they were there.
I kept writing.
Tell someone who cares
Each day I’d give my husband an update of the
numbers popping up in my word count.
‘That’s great,’ he’d say not taking his eye off the
news broadcast.
Don’t get me wrong, he loved the fact that I
wrote, even though he didn’t entirely get why
I’d write all those words and not use them. A
number of ‘non-writer’ friends agreed, giving
me a blank-faced ‘why’ when I told them of
the 50,000-word aim. NaNoWriMo-me learned
quickly who was on ‘My Team’. NaNoWriMome
didn’t talk much, instead she conserved her
energy for the page.
I kept writing.
You don’t have to write well, you just have to
write
Here was the thing: I never had a plot to lose.
I had one-dimensional characters, most of
whom I decided I didn’t like. Don’t ask me
about landscape, setting, or theme. My timeline
travelled more than the complete series of ‘Dr
Who’. Dialogue seemed to flow, but sensory
detail was absent. My inner critic screamed,
‘loser!’ in an amplified voice. NaNoWriMo-me
ignored it.
I kept writing.
Don’t look back
My tale started with a contemplative woman
in her sixties, who through some convoluted
story-lines reflected on her days as an unwitting
porn star. (Don’t ask. I didn’t.) Despite my lack
of direction I wasn’t tempted to edit, focussing
instead on pouring the words onto the page.
Would I get to the word count ‘Holy Grail’ I
pushed on like a desert explorer moving toward
the oasis mirage.
I kept writing.
You CAN be brave at your keyboard
Our writing class was advised to write about
what we were afraid of writing about. So I did.
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