NaNoWriMo Experiences

I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. My goal was to write 1667 words per day during a one-hour session each morning. This was too ambitious – not because I think it would be impossible to churn out 28 words a minute, but because I found it difficult to let go of the criticism. I weighed words, I spent much time perfecting sentences, and I thought much about what the story was going to be about.

I produced 1,589 words the first week.

Yesterday, I bailed out.

I realize I don’t have the time to write a novel this way right now. But the ideas I had are worth thinking about, and I want to turn them into fiction at a later time.

I learned that it is possible for me to write sitting on a train; I thought I needed quiet seclusion. I learned that writing (for me) probably has to happen in phases: think, draft, rewrite; I can’t think-write-rewrite simultaneously.

As for my story, I think I need to get a rough overall picture of the story, and then spew out a first draft to see what it looks like. Ingmar Bergman has said that the thinking part is fun, while the writing part is tedious.