NaNoWriMo: day 3
OK, OK, this is a little premature. I have written less than 1000 words so far today. The last sentence was largely about the importance of Brylcreem, or the 1939 German equivalent, or whatever substitute they used. (I'm leaving little points of research until after I've finished - otherwise how would I know what questions I need to ask, what I need to look up?)
But some idiot decided to write an article about how NaNoWriMo is a waste of time, to which my immediate response was Shut the hell up, you daft cow.
My points, laid out in a slightly less frenzied and profane form:
1) It's fun.
2) I'm eternally grateful to NaNoWriMo, especially the good people of my region, for pulling me out of a bout of pretty grim situational depression and getting me to do something I'd never done before. Without it... well, I imagine I'd have got better anyway, but it helped me deeply and personally.
3) She doesn't get that it's National Novel WRITING month. Not National Novel researching month, or National Novel Revising month, or, God forbid, National Novel Publishing month. November is for writing only, and for me at least, getting the words down on paper is the hardest part due to my Empty Page-o-phobia. (What coudl we call it? TabulaRasaPhobia?)
4) Shortage of readers? Um, how many people who don't READ novels want to write one? And is it just reading novels that count in her tiny mind? What about the various factual books I've bought and read? Not that I've abandoned novel-reading entirely, of course.
5) I buy some of my novels from 'proper' bookshops. However, I don't think the copy of "Les Jeunes et la Resistance" I bought was supporting a 'proper' bookshop, given that I had it shipped over here, at an extortionate rate, from Amazon.fr. What about my second-hand books? What about the copy of "Der Vorleser" I've just borrowed from a friend, and the copy of "Making History" I lent her in return? I'm hardly supporting a bookshop that way. And, er, what about the library books? Or the ancient, second-hand books I got for free? And re-reading?
6) If I read ten books between the first of January and the tenth of October - or just over one book a month - I'd consider that a pretty poor show. I think I read that many books in January alone.
7) Most people can, in fact, multitask. And by multitask I mean read a book and write 1,667 words a day during the month of November. I certainly am! In fact, I might stretch to reading - gasp! - more than one book, and also finish my novel, which has been gnawing at me until November the Novelling Deadline Month.
8) Unless I'm much mistaken, she seems to have forgotten that for readers to have books to read, someone's gotta be writing the things. It's not a chicken-and-egg situation: someone writing a book has to come first.
9) The "it's a waste of time" argument. Boy, do I hate this one! What isn't a waste of time? If I wasn't writing, I'd be transcribing or studying - admittedly worthy things which I'll be doing tomorrow. Or I'd be doing such other worthy free-time stuff as, um, playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl, attempting to regain my long-lost Salvador Dali-esque drawing skills, making an old ladyish owl-face tapestry, and reading TV Tropes. Yeah. Suddenly writing the first draft of my WWII jazz-fan novel seems so much better.
10) She freely admits she's not a fiction writer... and so she's never tried NaNo. Now there are some things you can knock before you think of trying them, like yak skiing, gladiatorial combat and putting a ferret down your trousers (used to be a popular pastime here in Yorkshire), but trying to write a novel is not likely to result in recreational death or embarrassing genital injuries. And even if it isn't for you, so what if other people are enjoying it? They could be simply having a blast: they could be curing their situational depression, amking friends, and getting a LOT out of the exercise.
And 11) Maybe it's a petty point, but first paragraph - since when is having NOT heard of something an accomplishment? I mean, I'd probably be happier if I'd never heard about many things - for instance, I'd probably be happier if I'd never read The Men with the Pink Triangle - but I'm glad I know about them. Knowledge is Good.
Word Count = TBA
But some idiot decided to write an article about how NaNoWriMo is a waste of time, to which my immediate response was Shut the hell up, you daft cow.
My points, laid out in a slightly less frenzied and profane form:
1) It's fun.
2) I'm eternally grateful to NaNoWriMo, especially the good people of my region, for pulling me out of a bout of pretty grim situational depression and getting me to do something I'd never done before. Without it... well, I imagine I'd have got better anyway, but it helped me deeply and personally.
3) She doesn't get that it's National Novel WRITING month. Not National Novel researching month, or National Novel Revising month, or, God forbid, National Novel Publishing month. November is for writing only, and for me at least, getting the words down on paper is the hardest part due to my Empty Page-o-phobia. (What coudl we call it? TabulaRasaPhobia?)
4) Shortage of readers? Um, how many people who don't READ novels want to write one? And is it just reading novels that count in her tiny mind? What about the various factual books I've bought and read? Not that I've abandoned novel-reading entirely, of course.
5) I buy some of my novels from 'proper' bookshops. However, I don't think the copy of "Les Jeunes et la Resistance" I bought was supporting a 'proper' bookshop, given that I had it shipped over here, at an extortionate rate, from Amazon.fr. What about my second-hand books? What about the copy of "Der Vorleser" I've just borrowed from a friend, and the copy of "Making History" I lent her in return? I'm hardly supporting a bookshop that way. And, er, what about the library books? Or the ancient, second-hand books I got for free? And re-reading?
6) If I read ten books between the first of January and the tenth of October - or just over one book a month - I'd consider that a pretty poor show. I think I read that many books in January alone.
7) Most people can, in fact, multitask. And by multitask I mean read a book and write 1,667 words a day during the month of November. I certainly am! In fact, I might stretch to reading - gasp! - more than one book, and also finish my novel, which has been gnawing at me until November the Novelling Deadline Month.
8) Unless I'm much mistaken, she seems to have forgotten that for readers to have books to read, someone's gotta be writing the things. It's not a chicken-and-egg situation: someone writing a book has to come first.
9) The "it's a waste of time" argument. Boy, do I hate this one! What isn't a waste of time? If I wasn't writing, I'd be transcribing or studying - admittedly worthy things which I'll be doing tomorrow. Or I'd be doing such other worthy free-time stuff as, um, playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl, attempting to regain my long-lost Salvador Dali-esque drawing skills, making an old ladyish owl-face tapestry, and reading TV Tropes. Yeah. Suddenly writing the first draft of my WWII jazz-fan novel seems so much better.
10) She freely admits she's not a fiction writer... and so she's never tried NaNo. Now there are some things you can knock before you think of trying them, like yak skiing, gladiatorial combat and putting a ferret down your trousers (used to be a popular pastime here in Yorkshire), but trying to write a novel is not likely to result in recreational death or embarrassing genital injuries. And even if it isn't for you, so what if other people are enjoying it? They could be simply having a blast: they could be curing their situational depression, amking friends, and getting a LOT out of the exercise.
And 11) Maybe it's a petty point, but first paragraph - since when is having NOT heard of something an accomplishment? I mean, I'd probably be happier if I'd never heard about many things - for instance, I'd probably be happier if I'd never read The Men with the Pink Triangle - but I'm glad I know about them. Knowledge is Good.
Word Count = TBA