Are You Doing NaNoWriMo?

If you’ve been a long time reader of this blog. Then you’ll be aware of my many attempts I’ve made to complete a novel, or even a book in general. It’s been years since I first sat down to put pen to paper and despite being a writer for a living, I seem to be unable to write something longer than a thousand words.

But NaNoWriMo aims to help writer’s like me get through the writer block and even commit to getting the final work published. It’s an initiative I discovered back in my teens, when I was obsessed with booktubers. All you have to do is write 1.5k words a day and by the end of November, BOOM you’re officially a novelist. If you have time between the hours of writing, there’s several seminars and webseries you can sink your teeth into. But does it help

Like many things in life, you can’t just do NaNoWriMo, it takes spare time (if you have it), the ability to plan (if you can) and the commitment to the story to make it end well.

Writing for NaNoWriMo is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but that will never stop me attempting it. This month, I’ve even cheated a little and begun to plan my story already.

It’s like this shining beacon that promises all of the good stuff now. But here’s something that I guess someone ought to tell you: You might finish your first draft this November, but it takes a lot longer than that to produce a work of fiction that’s fit for public consumption.

In fact, it took me longer to make that first book readable because I rushed it out.

NaNoWriMo was worth it, because knowing I could write a novel at all was a game changer for me. But I’m not sure that it’s a sustainable method for creating a writing career.

In reality, if you just want to tell a story once a year, NaNoWriMo is great. But if you want to become a professional-level novelist? You need to slow down.

The big reason is because what you write during NaNoWriMo is just a good start. I bet you’re great at starts..