My First NaNoWriMo Experience

At last, I made myself join the famous writing movement along with other writers around the world. It's the National Novel Writing Month, AKA NaNoWriMo. It's basically a challenge to encourage any writer, from all levels and countries to write their novel-worthy ideas into words non-stop for 30 days until they reach 50,000 words, which is roughly 200 pages novel length.

I won the challenge.

When you win it, you get the badges and a certificate to congratulate you on your achievement. And you can use it as a foundation to your writing habit, because you have written 1,600 words a day and every day for a month. If you're a writer, you already know that writing can be easy and can be very hard. It's time consuming to think of each sentence to put down. You encounter a lot of obstacles like self-doubt and procrastination, distractions and daily responsibilities. So this challenge is quite a solid one.

My advice is to be prepared.

I didn't prepare much before the start date, but I managed to complete the requirement because I'm more of a panster type of writer who writes freely without planning. I usually map everything out in my head before I write. But to take this challenge, you'll need more than your usual tools.

You should outline your story idea. You don't have to know every scene, but do a bullet point list of each scene or chapter will be helpful to keep your story on track. You can also change it later along the way.

Don't think. You just sit down and just write. If you don't feel like writing, just say to yourself that I'll write one sentence. Just one sentence today. So by the time you open your word processor and put your hands to the keyboard, you might come up with something more. Besides when you break it down into tiny tasks, your brain don't feel too overwhelmed by the big task.

Don't care about your mistake or grammar. You can always come back to edit them later, but what you can't come back to edit is a blank page.

Set a routine. I normally write better around 9-11 in the morning. Then lunch break, I'll read to stayed inspired. Sometimes what I read can spark new ideas for my writing. That's why people keep telling you if you want to write better, you just have to read a lot. Having a habit can condition your brain to carry out the task every day without freaking out, thinking it's something new it has to tackle.

After the challenge, I felt like I could easily write any book if I set my heart to it. Yes, life is busy and everyone needs a break once in a while, but to become a professional and follow your passion, you need to sacrifice. All athletes and musicians and artists who make a mark in the world sacrifice a lot of their time perfecting their craft.

I believe quantity begets quality. The more you write the better you become. It takes 10,000 hours to excel in any field, and writing is also a skill. It appears that only by reaching 10,000 hours (that's about 90 minutes per day for 20 years), one can become an outlier in his or her field according to the studies. I have been writing roughly 5 years, so I still have a long way to go. But let's just enjoy the journey instead of being too focused on the destination.

After NaNoWriMo, I learned the importance of outlining, planning and drafting my story better and keep it consistent. It might not be perfect but as they say you can have a perfect idea but it's nothing if it's not finished. Repeat this mantra: Finish not perfect by Jake Parker.