Welcome to Language, Learning & Life

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Day 1

My Current Word Count: 5,467 words

Words Written Today: 5,467 words

Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 1667 words

Buenos dias! Welcome to my blog and to this chronicle of my adventures in language and learning (and possibly a little of my life). I would like to start by introducing myself to you so you know my background and have a better understanding of this project but before we get to that, I would like to explain NANOWRIMO to all of those who are unfamiliar with it. I will get back to this project and my background in subsequent posts.

First of all, I am writing this to you in conjunction with Camp NANOWRIMO. For those of you who do not know what that is, the name NANOWRIMO is derived from National Novel Writing Month, which is held every November (see www.nanowrimo.org for more details and to sign up – it’s free!). The brainchild of Chris Baty, this annual event is hosted by The Office of Letters & Light and has become a global phenomenon. Based upon the success of the original NANOWRIMO, an additional month of writing was created in July and it was dubbed Camp NANOWRIMO. Spurred on by increased success, too much caffeine and (I’m guessing but I’m pretty sure) continued demand for even more, the folks at The Office of Letters & Light have created a second Camp in April.

National Novel Writing Month is a free writing marathon that lasts for thirty days. During that thirty days successful “WRIMO’S” (as we writers are dubbed) will create a novel (or other form of writing) that is at least fifty thousand words in length. While at first blush fifty thousand words seems like quite a daunting task, it gets easier if you break it down into smaller chunks (as do all big goals, by the way). Fifty thousand words equates to 1667 words per day, written every day for thirty days. Of course you can write more and you can write less at times, as long as you catch up later. Through the website, WRIMO’s can choose to get involved in any of the various forums which include writing prompts, advice for first timers and much, much more. There is a single day every November where writers gather both in person and online to kick out as many words as possible during that time (dubbed The Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-Thon). There are also local groups which writers can get involved in creating their own days or nights of writing frenzy, and as many as they choose. Or they can just share their stories and bounce ideas off one another too, either online or in person. Joining a local group in no way means you have to participate, either online in the forums or in person at meet-ups. Everything is optional and everything is free.

National Novel Writing Month’s founder Chris Baty wrote a book published by Chronicle Books in 2004 titled No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days. Those of you who also either write or aspire to write have probably noticed a run of books in recent years espousing to teach you how to write a novel in thirty, sixty or even ninety days; Chris Baty (as far as I can tell) started this trend and it is the success of NANOWRIMO that compels would-be authors to find their own way to novel writing success in such a short time.

As in all major projects, writing a novel in thirty days does not mean that you will come out the other end with a complete manuscript. It does mean that you can come out the other end with a complete rough draft, and this is all you should hope for. Banish your inner editor during the month. Seriously, do not, under any circumstances, stop to edit as you write. If you have a better idea for something you just wrote, add it on as soon as you think of it; you can remove what you don’t want later. Stopping will only impede the flow of your thoughts and it will allow doubt to creep in. National Novel Writing Month is not the time to start thinking how you “will never amount to anything as a writer” or that “this is utter garbage—no one will ever want to read what I write!” If you start to doubt yourself and you do not nip that particular demon in the bud you will end up drinking too many margaritas down at the local watering hole and blathering on about the tortured soul of a writer and that is what is total garbage. (You don’t even have to drink to be a writer! Tortured souls are optional.)

Now if you find yourself reading this and you think something along the lines of, “Well, I’ve always wanted to write a novel…but fifty thousand words? Wow, I could never do that in a month. That’s just too much!” You are in luck; Camp NANOWRIMO (www.campnanowrimo.org) now has the option of selecting your own word count goal. If fifty thousand words seem like an additional mountain on top of the mountain of other things you already have to do, sign up for twenty thousand words or whatever other number seems more appropriate for you. You’ll never know if you don’t try and if you reach your smaller goal of twenty thousand words (or whatever you choose), keep going! See just how many words you can write in a month and use that as fuel for your next CAMP NANOWRIMO in July or for the longer goal of fifty thousand words in November. You just might surprise yourself and find that you can write fifty thousand words in a month without even trying (well, there is some effort involved).

As you may have guessed, novels are not the only thing that you can choose to write during your time at Camp NANOWRIMO. While National Novel Writing Month was initially begun for creating a novel in a single month, it has now spawned WRIMO Rebels who write in other genres besides fiction. And as you can tell, I am definitely a Rebel, although I wrote my first novel during my first NANOWRIMO in November 2009. I have successfully written fifty thousand words or more every subsequent November and last year I also wrote at least fifty thousand words in both April and July also. That’s seven attempts and seven successes; what might you accomplish if you sign up for NANOWRIMO or Camp NANOWRIMO?

You may already know this, but every poll that I’ve ever seen on the subject says that the majority of Americans (and perhaps people in general) secretly believe that they have a novel or other book inside of them, just waiting to get out. And just as secretly, most of these same people will die not having written that book. Why die with your story untold? Take this opportunity to write what’s on your mind; let your story be told, you’ll be happy that you did.

Sit down, grab your pen, laptop, typewriter (hey, no judgment here; write in whatever way that makes you comfortable) and start writing. Sign up first, of course. www.campnanowrimo.org Prove it to yourself, your mother, your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, that English teacher who annihilated everything you ever submitted for class—but most of all, prove it to yourself. You do have a story in you and people want to read it. Do it now.