Thursday, November 8, 2007

NANOWRIMO

Are you participating in NANOWRIMO this month?

In case you haven't heard of it, NANOWRIMO is short for National Novel Writing Month, an annual event each November in which writers register to attempt to write 50,000 words of a new novel in 30 days. http://www.nanowrimo.org/ The emphasis is on quantity not quality. The thinking behind NANOWRIMO is to write freely, accumulating words, without stopping to edit.

I think the concept is wonderful, particularly since, as I've blogged before, I'm obsessive about editing as I write, thinking out each sentence before it makes it to the page.

Each year I intend to sign up for NANOWRIMO, and each November I'm neck- deep in another project and unable to start something new.

Being the Type A personality that I am (I blogged about that a few weeks ago : - )), I don't know if I can take the necessary step back from the work that I'd need to in order to write without editing - but I'd love to try! I'd love to challenge myself and see if I can let go and just write.

I'd also like to see just what I'd end up with in terms of useable material. Wouldn't it be a kick to discover that I'd actually written something worthwhile?

I won't have an answer for that this year, since I didn't participate. I'm working to complete my current novel at this time. But, I have high hopes for participating next year : - )

Regards,
Karen

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm also a lovely Type A personality and I am pretty hard on myself when it comes to editing as I write. I sat down to see if I could write 1700 words a day and it took me a while because I sat and picked it apart the entire time. Not very productive. However I am interested in seeing if that part of my personality would be stifled to bring forth the creativity!!

Karen Fenech said...

I think we Type A's are harder on ourselves than on anyone else. I also find it very hard to just let go and write without thinking through every word. I also outline thoroughly before I begin a novel. There is an upside that I've found, however, to editing as we go and to outlining. When I go back through my first draft, I find the prose is cleaner and the plot more cohesive.

Still, it would be nice to just write without concern. : - )

I hope your writing is going well. 1700 words a day is great!

Regards,
Karen