Your November Novel
It begins tomorrow.
Thirty days to write 50,000 words.
Sixteen hundred and sixty-seven words a day, if you round it up.
Do you have the words inside you? Do I have them inside me? Last year at this time I accepted what I thought was an outrageous idea, NaNoWriMo’s challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in thirty days.
I thought I would drop out. I thought I would decide, as I had with many other things, that this wasn’t something I was ready to invest myself in so heavily.
The other possibility I imagined was that I would stick to the rigorous schedule out of pure stubbornness and greet December with a manuscript to help me start the wood stove on a few cold mornings.
I didn’t think I was ready.
I wasn’t ready until I sat down and started typing.
__________
If you have never accepted NaNoWriMo’s challenge but entertain some small hope that one day you will be a writer, this is where I tell you that this is your chance.
Don’t settle for being an aspiring writer, whatever that means.
Don’t settle for telling people, “I hope to be a writer some day.”
Being a writer is the simplest thing in the world: All you have to do is sit down and write. It’s not magical. It’s not a mysterious talent that some are born with and some are not.
Being a writer is a way of life, a series of decisions: I choose to set aside time every day to write.
It doesn’t have to be good writing. Frankly, if you are just starting out as a writer, you should expect that farther down the road you will look back at your first words with astonishment and chagrin.
That’s a good sign. Success as a writer should not be watching your novel climb to the New York Times’ bestseller list.
Your success should be your progress — being a better writer today than you were yesterday, writing a little more clearly and honestly about the things you care about most.
If you can do that every day, then you’ve already succeeded. It’s up to the rest of the world to recognize your accomplishment.
__________
We get tripped up sometimes when we fall into thinking that writing is something we are, not something we do.
Let’s imagine it were true that some people are born as writers and others are not. What if you don’t know? What’s the best way to discover if you were “born to be a writer”?
You start writing.
You ask yourself, “Do I enjoy this? Does this fulfill me?”
Hold off on asking someone else whether they like your story. The important thing right now is not even deciding if you like it. No matter the quality of your words at the moment , does the process suit you? Do you feel this is the best way for you to express yourself?
There may be writers out there who feel they could take or leave a writing life. Maybe some of them think that if their circumstances had been a little different, they would have found an equally fulfilling career doing something else entirely.
I can’t imagine a life without writing. On the few days when I don’t write, I feel heavy and unfulfilled, the same way my body feels when I go too long without exercise.
My mind needs to write. That is equally important to me as my love of writing.
If you feel that you love to write and need to write, you won’t get caught up on how much money you are (not) making, or how much better someone else’s book is selling.
Your focus, your passion, will be about telling the stories trapped inside you with greater clarity and honesty.
That’s what it’s about — clarity and honesty. Not cleverness or wordplay or plot twists, though there’s a place for all of those. The best thing you can do is to tell your most heartfelt story as honestly as you know how.
If other people don’t like that story, that’s their loss. This is what matters most to you — you will defend it so long as you live. It’s part of you and your experience. A betrayal of that story would be a betrayal of yourself.
__________
I put a lot of weight on the process of writing because I love the craft and want other writers to be as passionate as I am. I don’t mean to suggest that it can’t be fun and lighthearted and amusing as well.
Some people slip into writing. They write a few stories, make a little money, and gradually discover that writing is more meaningful to them than their other pursuits.
The NaNoWriMo challenge, however, is a deliberate choice. If you have read this far and you are still considering whether to take the challenge, allow me to make a suggestion.
Think of the best story you have ever read. Think of how it moved you, how it guided you to see life from a fresh perspective. Now ask yourself: Does your heart burn to be on the other side of that story, to be the storyteller rather than the reader?
If the answer is yes, then I think you’ve run out of excuses not to take the challenge. You have a voice, and the world needs to hear that voice.
What better way to share your voice than to take this challenge and write your first novel?
