Confession: I’m not fully prepped for National Novel Writing Month. Not like I thought I’d be. I told myself this year will be different. This year I’m prepping. I’ve never attempted NaNo with an outline in hand before. I’ve always been a pantser, or one who writes by the seat of their pants. This year, I was going to be a plotter.
Every year I consider participating in NaNoWriMo, I question why in the world they chose November, one of the busiest months of the year, for this lofty goal. 50,000 words in 30 days. It’s totally doable, just break each day down to a mere 1,667 words, write each day, and you’re there. But when you throw in everyday life with an active family – especially as we careen toward the holidays – those sacred snatches of writing time it takes to meet a daily word count can become altogether elusive.
This November will be particularly busy for me. My son’s football team is playoffs-bound, and we haven’t even finished the regular season yet. My daughter has three regular season soccer games remaining this month plus a tournament. We plan to travel back home to Texas for Thanksgiving week. None of this busyness bodes well for my writing goals. I thought if I prepped this year, plotting out the story swirling in my heart and mind and sketching my characters to life, that cranking out 50,000 words this month would be more manageable. And, theoretically, I’d have a more organized draft to edit from, once complete.
The NaNoWriMo website offers fantastic resources for writers. One of them is a prep page giving participants a NaNo Prep 101 crash course that boasts articles, videos, exercises, and more, broken down week-by-week beginning mid-September. In my efforts to prep, I did not take advantage of these offerings, mostly because I did not start prepping until October. I instead chose to outline my novel using the snowflake method. Then I merged three or four various resources for my in-depth character development. My snowflake outline is not as fleshed out as I’d like it to be, and my 15-page character development worksheets for my two main characters are sparse in some spots.
Last week, I was waffling on following through with NaNo this year when a writer friend of mine said, “You know, you don’t have to do it just because you thought you would. If you need permission to let it go, I give you permission. Maybe we can look at another month to do it, one that’s not as busy.” I love this friend so much for that. She’s an amazing writer and such an encourager. And while she challenges me and holds me accountable, she also reminds me that when life is a little off-kilter, I can let things go.
Ironically, it wasn’t participating in NaNoWriMo that I decided to let go of. Instead, I relaxed my idea of what planning ahead looked like for me for NaNo this year. I’ve declared myself a plantser – a hybrid of plotter and pantser. And I’m okay with that, choosing to charge ahead with a partial plan. Part of the allure of writing by the seat of my pants is that I love the organic way the story flows as I write. I am delighted (most of the time) when my characters surprise me by nudging me in a different direction. But having a semblance of my story’s backbone, a loose structure to guide me gives me purpose and, I believe, will help prevent me from getting bogged down in the murky middle as I write.
So this week, I’m jumping in feet first, trying my best and hoping for good things. On days when the words pour forth like a fire hydrant, I’ll log as many as possible to make up for the inevitable days when they barely trickle out or I don’t have time to even sit at my computer to see what happens. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Friends, have you ever made a plan for something that didn’t turn out like you hoped? Did you move forward anyway? Or you tried making plans but didn’t quite make it happen in time? What did you learn from that experience? What would you do differently next time?