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WriteOn! NaNoWriMo and Goals [1]
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Date: 2023-11-02
Once again it is the month of November. For many writers, this is the month they’ve been looking forward to — or fearing, depending.
NaNoWriMo was a charity designed to encourage young writers to write a book. An entire 50,000 words, start to finish, in one month. It still is, though it has gotten more commercial over the years. The goal was to convince people they could.
Most people who attempt NaNo don’t ‘win.’ For some, that’s demoralizing. For others, they still see more words than they ever thought they could do in such a short time.
NaNo’s changed over the years. It used to be that you had to start the book on Day 1. You had to send your document in to be verified before you were declared a winner. The site’s changed. Rebels (multiple projects or already started projects) became welcomed. NaNo’s added in editing goals as well, but the month of November? That’s still all about writing that book.
In this case, let’s talk goals.
I’m military, so I like to think of goals using the SMART method.
Specific: For NaNo, this is clear. A complete novel — or now, just 50,000 words.
Measureable: New words are very measureable. Most word processors will do it for you. If you draft on a notebook, that’s a bit trickier, but I’ve learned over the years about how many words I write per steno notebook page.
Achievable: Aaaaah, here is the kicker. Until a writer attempts NaNo, how can they know it’s achievable? You can guess, or you can do your own sprints ahead of time and get a sense of how many words per time period you can write — but if you’ve never attempted 50,000 words in one month, it’s hard to know if it’s possible. Each year many people win, and even more fail. 1,667 words a day is a lot, especially as adult responsibilities, full-time work, and all the minutia of life start taking hold.
Relevant: In this case, NaNo wants to encourage people to write a novel. 50,000 words is considered the minimum novel length for adult fiction — at least by official standards somewhere, that someone decided. Most adult novels these days are significantly longer, and the average tends to be 80-100k words. That is a much harder goal to achieve in a single month!
Time-bound: The month of November.
NaNoWriMo, in short, makes my military-trained brain happy. I can do this.
I have done this.
I lost last year anyway.
However, the beauty of NaNo is that there’s always another year!
Tonight’s Challenge: A drabble! (100 words) using windswept, cavalcade
Having said all that, let’s look at our goals and see where we are in progress. I can’t stay up late enough to host, but I’ll be back in the morning to update the box and comment away!
Aashirs nani -- get this novel together. bonetti -- 50,000 words, hopefully completing a story and associated world-building dconrad -- 50,000 words, also work on some trunk novels. elenacarlena -- write every day. mettle fatigue -- just write some stuff mockingbird1971 -- finish what I've started. NoBlinkers -- hit daily par, finish romantasy, get farther on epic fantasy. 2 Nov: 4,160 words, 2/2 par. Reppa -- 10-15,000 words, plus spending some extra time planning/prepping for January Strawbale - 250 words a day, no matter how good or bad. ThurzdaysChild - Goal: Five writing self-appointments during November of one to four hours duration each; continue making progress editing / revising the current WIP ('memoir').
READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE
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