NANOWRIMO

Tomorrow is November 1.

Which means that some radio stations will start playing Christmas music 24-7.

It also marks the start of the National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) challenge, in which I am a participant. The idea is to pen a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, or about 1667 words a day. As I write, this works out to be about 5 single-spaced typewritten pages each day (including a double-space between paragraphs). So by the end of the month, I will theoretically have the first draft of a 180-page novel written.

This is pretty much going to be an impossible task for me, because this is how I write:

I hem and haw. I agonize over the choice of a single word. I write a sentence, rewrite the sentence, rewrite the sentence again. And then I delete the sentence and start over. I find something to distract me — a book about plot and character, checking my email, going to the local pharmacy to buy orange Tic-Tacs and check my blood pressure on that little 25-cent machine they have in the back corner.

I come back and reread what I’ve written, decide that only about 5 percent of it is worth keeping, and rewrite again. My internal editor tells me that my main character is boring, so I drop a drunk relative into the scene. But the drunk relative doesn’t want to behave on the page so I replace him with a more cooperative character. I notice that there are three typos, one incorrect use of the present perfect tense, and four instances of inconsistent point-of-view. I correct these errors immediately.

It has been four hours. I have three paragraphs written. I give up, because the idea was stupid to begin with.

But in the NANOWRIMO challenge, there is no time to sit around dissecting grammar and strategizing your plot like a chess game.

The rule is: just write. One word after the other, until the little word counter at the bottom of your MS Word document reaches 1,667. Yes, it will be crap. Yes, there will be plot holes and flat characters and totally lame dialogue that goes like this:

“Hey. What’s up?”
“Nothing. What’s up with you?
“Not much. Wanna go grocery shopping with me?”
“Um, ok. Can we get some asparagus? Because I like asparagus.”
“Sure.”

According to NANOWRIMO, those are good things. Because after all, you’re writing…you’ll have raw content to go back and revise into a work of art when you’re done…and c’mon, how many English teachers ever gave you permission to write crap?

I think the late, great Ernest Hemmingway said it best: “The first draft of anything is shit.”

And I’m about to get knee-deep in it.