A Novel in Thirty Days: Can I do it?

Is no plot really no problem?

Photo by Breakingpic from Pexels

In case you haven’t heard of it before, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Every year since 1999, thousands of writers challenge themselves to write 50,000 words (the length of a short novel) in only one month.

My history with NaNoWriMo is kind of… meh. I tried it once, wrote maybe a thousand words, and gave up.

So what’s possessed me to consider trying it again?

The big one: my initial attempt was (I think) in 2015, and I’ve learned a lot since then. I take my writing a lot less seriously now, in a good way-I let go of the idea that every word I wrote had to be exactly right.

In addition, a few things have happened recently that have pushed me to reconsider my opinion that fast drafting was just not for me.

• I read somewhere (I wish I had saved the link!) that an independent author needs to publish more frequently than a traditionally published author in order to build up a fan base and bring in a decent income. When I considered my favorite indie authors and their publishing schedules, I realized there was merit in that claim. Which meant that I needed to learn to write significantly faster.
• I read this article by Brian Rowe. He…