My Fifth NaNoWriMo Anniversary
November 8th 2007 21:20
On November 8, 2002, I came across this website where a couple of thousand mad people came together to write a novel in a month. I thought that was completely crazy. I signed up almost immediately.
Almost because I spent five minutes thinking how typical Sonya it was that I stumbled across the challenge one week too late. I had almost accepted the fact that I would have to wait for 51 weeks before I would finally sit down and write a novel, but then I thought, "I may be a week late, but I can still make it."
I reached 50k three weeks later on November 29. The result is rather awful - it does have its moments, though. But it doesn't matter that it's really bad fiction because writing bad fiction taught me a lot about novel writing. I learned more during these three weeks five years ago than I had previously from reading various books on writing. I knew right then that NaNoWriMo would become a regular part of my life - and here I am, 5 years later, writing my 6th novel. I'm still learning lots every year, but I feel that it is not an insult to literature anymore to call the first drafts I produce in November novels.
Almost because I spent five minutes thinking how typical Sonya it was that I stumbled across the challenge one week too late. I had almost accepted the fact that I would have to wait for 51 weeks before I would finally sit down and write a novel, but then I thought, "I may be a week late, but I can still make it."
I reached 50k three weeks later on November 29. The result is rather awful - it does have its moments, though. But it doesn't matter that it's really bad fiction because writing bad fiction taught me a lot about novel writing. I learned more during these three weeks five years ago than I had previously from reading various books on writing. I knew right then that NaNoWriMo would become a regular part of my life - and here I am, 5 years later, writing my 6th novel. I'm still learning lots every year, but I feel that it is not an insult to literature anymore to call the first drafts I produce in November novels.
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