okay, yes. i am a dork for making my hackneyed monty python reference. but it fits.
last month i took on nanowrimo wiped out about two weeks in. i underestimated the time and energy my other obligations would take from the project, and as a result it bit me square in the ass. i made it to just under 24K; a healthy chunk of writing by most standards, so i'm not ashamed.
ah, but you ask me what lessons have i learned from this failure. i nod and stroke my beard, a pensive sheen to my eye.
i've learned i have limits, that even at full speed i can only go so fast, can grind at the stone only so hard. finding limits is important. i've discovered what conditions i definitely won't write under, that i need time to think along with time to write. that in a time crunch i actually do need a plot of some kind planned out, if only a rough sketch from which to jump off. and even under pressure, i can produce some decent scenes that will polish up nicely.
and here's the interesting bit: i'm continuing the project in january. a friend is attempting six 50k months in 2010, and i'm hitching along for one of them, hopefully reaching 50k at least, and optimally 75k or so. my schedule has settled a lot compared to november, so odds are closer to my favor than before.
so, here's to failure! may it be illuminating, as well as temporary.
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I'm not a fan of this na-no-wri-mo thing at all ... I can't understand its ultimate point. Is it self-discipline? Then it can be learned a thousand better ways. Is it a contest? What are its ultimate aims?
ReplyDeleteI've found that one hundred words, minimum, daily works just fine for me. In 7+ years I've managed a 300K novel with it, along with edits, formatting, learning the publishing business, and so on. Hmm.
Writing shouldn't be bulimic, a vomiting of words in 30 days, a purging. It's an artform, one that takes a long, long time to master, if it's mastered at all.
Just my 2 pennies.
"Here, here, Laurie!" the Knittymommy says as she raises her champagne flute, at 9:37 am.
ReplyDelete@shawn: i certainly understand your point, shawn, and would never suggest everyone should write every novel this way. i think the main benefit of giving nanowrimo a try is the freedom we feel in exploring and letting go of that internal (eternal) editor for a few weeks. if someone can produce a complete novel in 30 days that doesn't need massive editing and refinement, i'll eat my hat (and not the one made out of bacon.)
ReplyDeletei like to think of nanowrimo as my month of coming out to play, to write with abandon with thousands of others doing the same. it's fun, and not to be approached as an attempt to create fine literature. the literature comes later, in the revising. ;)
thanks for your comments. :)
@knittymommy: *clink* taps her mug of hot cocoa to km's champagne flute. :D thanks, dearie.
NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.”
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