How to Be Human During NaNoWriMo
My first attempt at writing was a blatantly plagiarized version of The Velveteen Rabbit called The Real Doll. I was 5.
I wanted to be a writer from the minute I learned that every single book I’ve ever read was made up of just 26 letters, 10 numerals, and a handful of punctuation marks. But instead of eking out a meager living as a writer, I held a succession of non-writing related jobs while I got married, finished university, got married again, had a baby, got married again, had another baby, and got married again.
I was over 30 before my life was settled enough that I could even think about taking on writing an entire novel, but found it almost impossible to do alone. Virginia Woolf was wrong: a room of one’s own isn’t enough. A person also needs someone to take up the slack — someone to cook meals, do laundry, put the kids to bed, walk the dog — because those are the things that get in the way when you’re straining to finish your masterpiece, especially if you have a day job that doesn’t always end when you leave the office.
With NaNo came a thing I didn’t realize I needed: permission.
I discovered NaNoWriMo in 2002 when it was still a small, mostly San Francisco Bay Area thing. With NaNo came a thing I didn’t realize I needed: permission. Even if I had someone to fetch and carry for me when I was writing, it didn’t silence that voice in my head that said “You have chores to do. The plants need watering. The carpet needs vacuuming.” When everyone else in the house is focused on housework, it’s hard not to feel like a lazy jerk.
The first time I went to a write in, I discovered an entire coffee shop of people who wanted nothing more than to sit down for a couple of uninterrupted hours and write. Finally! A place where, if I wasn’t sitting down writing, I would be a lazy jerk. That first NaNoWriMo, I wrote 108,000 words.
Eventually I became an ML (municipal liaison), then a donor, then a member of the board of directors. NaNo helped me claim my identity as a writer, and when I realized how valuable that was, I knew I needed to help other people claim their identity by telling their stories. Humans are hardwired to tell stories (it says so on my website), and by helping make NaNoWriMo possible, I feel like I’m helping people be a little more human.
Allons-y!
Lise Quintana
National Novel Writing Month,
Participant since 2002, 7-year Municipal Liason, Board Member since 2019
