Do you NaNo?
It's *that* time of the year again, and opinions differ, although I am seeing far fewer posts - I guess that much of this has already been said?
Anyway, here's my stance.
I've made fantastic friends during Nano, so I'll always feel fond of the institution. Which does not mean I approve of the way it is run: the year-round NaNoing (Camp NaNo this, that initiative that) waters down the 'everybody gear up for November'' thing and I dislike the pressure to donate, which is getting more and more obnoxious, or maybe just feels like that because I've seen it so often. (If I have money to spare, I'd like to use it to support people who need it, not an organisation that is raising huge amounts of money for something that's... coming across more as a fundraising machine than a charity, if you get my drift.)
But here's a list of things that people do during NaNo, in no particular order:
- push themselves to write instead of planning, revising, plotnoodling, or a thousand other cat vacuuming techniques
- meet new people (November is a fantastic time to move to a new city!)
- get into a habit of writing daily
- work out how they can make more time to write during their ordinary life: get up sooner, write at lunch, take notes on their phone or carry a notebook
- use November as motivation to write more on an established project
- try a new genre, project, POV
- try a new tool or software, writing location, writing time
- hold themselves accountable by posting metrics
So even if you don't want to churn out 50.000 words during November, if you are in the middle of another project, or if you need to write more slowly and revise as you go along, NaNoWriMo might offer you something.
I have a deadline today, so will be quiet, and then I have a scene to rewrite on last month's book.
Also posted at http://green-knight.dreamwidth.org/1019844.html where it has gathered
comments. If you're reading at both sites, I'd prefer comments at DW.
Anyway, here's my stance.
I've made fantastic friends during Nano, so I'll always feel fond of the institution. Which does not mean I approve of the way it is run: the year-round NaNoing (Camp NaNo this, that initiative that) waters down the 'everybody gear up for November'' thing and I dislike the pressure to donate, which is getting more and more obnoxious, or maybe just feels like that because I've seen it so often. (If I have money to spare, I'd like to use it to support people who need it, not an organisation that is raising huge amounts of money for something that's... coming across more as a fundraising machine than a charity, if you get my drift.)
But here's a list of things that people do during NaNo, in no particular order:
- push themselves to write instead of planning, revising, plotnoodling, or a thousand other cat vacuuming techniques
- meet new people (November is a fantastic time to move to a new city!)
- get into a habit of writing daily
- work out how they can make more time to write during their ordinary life: get up sooner, write at lunch, take notes on their phone or carry a notebook
- use November as motivation to write more on an established project
- try a new genre, project, POV
- try a new tool or software, writing location, writing time
- hold themselves accountable by posting metrics
So even if you don't want to churn out 50.000 words during November, if you are in the middle of another project, or if you need to write more slowly and revise as you go along, NaNoWriMo might offer you something.
I have a deadline today, so will be quiet, and then I have a scene to rewrite on last month's book.
Also posted at http://green-knight.dreamwidth.org/1019844.html where it has gathered
comments. If you're reading at both sites, I'd prefer comments at DW.