Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Nanowrimo, re-written

It's November 2, and we all know what that means. I'm already behind. Every year, I come up with a strategy to make it through Nanowrimo. Fifty thousand words in thirty days. Okay, that doesn't sound so bad. Does it?
It took me a while to warm up to the idea. The way it's supposed to work, is you sit down on November first and start writing. You don't stop to read, you don't stop to re-write, you just move forward. That, I've found doesn't work for me. The thought of ending up with fifty thousand words at the end was great. But the thought of 50 thousand words of crap... Well, that terrified me.
It's taken me a couple of years to realize what I need from Nanowrimo. It's not really the word count, but the reason to push forward, and to push forward in directions I would not have normally. So, falling behind in the word count doesn't bother me, I know it's inevitable, I mean, seriously, I have to cook two full Thanksgivings and work Black Friday in three weeks. But still, I'm grateful for the time I get to spend with the story. I have time to begin to like what I'm writing, spend time with the characters again. That makes the 4AM writing time worth it.