What Worked
What Didn’t Work
An open letter to my current self
from my former self as a NaNo novice
by Kaye Sims
October 27, 2012
Part Four: THE PROCESS
Once I made the commitment and brainstormed about a possible plan, then I began figuring out the actual process – which again has been a series of experiments. I quickly noticed the distractions as well as the motivators. I slowly learned to minimize the hindrances and to take advantage of the fun stuff that would help me in the process.
THE DISTRACTIONS...
There will always be negatives – some large and some smaller – that will hinder the success of such an ambitious project. And it is important to confront these along the way and show them who is boss.
The time factor
Perhaps the most obvious issue is busyness, the time factor. Where, oh where, can you find the time? How can you possibly add in one more commitment that will take at least an hour (maybe two) of every day?
The internet
I’ve already admitted my struggle of being sucked in by the worldwide web. The longer I stay unplugged, the more my writing flows. “Oh, but I want to do a little research on this idea. I might forget what it was that I wanted to check on.” Make a note, I say, and check it later; make a note! (Sometimes I scroll down to the bottom of my page and make a separate little section where I can pile up those notes of things I want to check on or remind myself to edit. Then I can easily look at the bottom of the day's document to find those reminders.)
Perfectionism
Yah, there are many ways that I am so not a perfectionist… BUT I do have some tendencies and they love to throw a wrench into the keys whenever possible. It seems that my best defense is to intentionally, deliberately choose not to edit during this phase of the writing process – but simply to keep typing, keep cranking out those words. Some people would find that inefficient. “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” “I don’t want to waste a stroke.” On the other hand, I view this as an opportunity to be prolific. After all, I can never publish (or use in any way) what I don’t write. Until I have a first rough draft, I’ll never have a polished one. This is a chance to let the words and ideas flow. AND I can learn valuable lessons in the process of writing this way. Therefore I choose not to bother with editing at this time – other than those little notes to myself here & there reminding me of something that I may want to re-work. I decide to assert my authority over those squiggles and do with them whatever I dang well feel like doing on any given morning – whether it will be to ignore them or to type out a silly dialog with them.
THE POSITIVES
Then there is the fun stuff, the stuff that helps, the tricks that seem to work to motivate and encourage me. Yay for fun stuff!!!
NaNo stuff
One of the things that I love about NaNo is the hype. It has proven to be a powerful motivator for me – one that I will shamelessly milk for all it’s worth. But hey, I wonder if there should be an apostrophe in “its” in this case. So I go against my NaNo policy of no research and discover that the jury is still out on that question – because no one seems to know whether it is a reference to some inherent worth. So there ya’ go; an example of my meandering silliness. So what was I saying?
Oh, yes… To know that I am part of something huge, that there are hundreds, thousands of other writers across the country and around the world who are laboring toward the same lofty goal seems like great fun to me. And then there are the gimmicks… Sometimes I like gimmicks. The regional gatherings, the e-mail tips, the writing buddies, and the charts… Ooh, the charts. I love the charts!!! (Or maybe they are pie graphs? I can’t remember.) There is the notoriety and the acclaim and the cool cheesy stuff you can use for your FB profile pic - like my nifty little winner stamp at the top of this page!
My team
Because I like to talk about me and broadcast some of the things that are going on in my life and because I thought it might invite some bit of accountability, I tend to post NaNo updates on Facebook. It sort of caught me by surprise to have people respond with virtual pats and cheers. How fun! I really hope that I can find some more real-life NaNo buddies the next time.
My own personal encouragement plan
Most of the things I’ve written above are components of my own attempt to cheer myself on. The routine is a huge component of my plan, as is staying offline, but then there are all the little details – like writing in PJs, like writing every day, like going downstairs to get a glass of ice water. Such a small thing, but staying hydrated is a healthy habit, one that energizes me – plus it provides a stretch break to get the blood flowing again. There are the little details I have chosen – like padding my word count goals to write more than the absolute minimum thereby creating myself some cushion, like not taking time to edit, like allowing my fingers to engage in strange dialog or other silliness. Oh, yah, about the word count… Feel free to check the word count ridiculously often – just because you can. Sometimes it is such fun to see those numbers adding up and sometimes it provides a needed kick in the pants. I have even been known to write about the word count – on more than one occasion – which I guess would be some sort of self-perpetuating action. Strange indeed.
My writing habit
One of the very coolest things that NaNo has given me... or that I have given myself through NaNo... is my writing habit. My writing practice. I now have a writing habit - that I can build and reinforce as much as I want. Of course, I can also neglect that habit, but why would I want to? Having a writing habit can be a very practical tool. Yes, ma'am; realizing that I have my own writing practice is a very cool thing.
Other little details & miscellany
Include anything and everything that might possibly maybe perhaps be of use some day – even if not until some far-off date in the future – any extra ideas that might later be incorporated.
And... Leave a tail that you can grab the next day. Too many times I would come to the keyboard early in the morning and not be able to remember where I had been the day before or think of any new direction. Somewhere I read an author who said that you needed to leave yourself something to get started the next day. I discovered that it can be anything – an opening sentence for the next paragraph/chapter, maybe a list of ideas that could be considered next, maybe just some scraps of thoughts that haven’t even come together in my mind yet. Perhaps something that popped into my head two pages back when I didn’t dare abandon the flow to pay attention to it, but fortunately I was smart enough to type a few words to bring it back later.
The accomplishment
This NaNo thing is huge. Once you reach such an amazing goal, you must, you simply must preserve & protect it. Yep, keep this baby safe somewhere – and backed up redundantly. But don’t wait until you’re finished or submitted to back it up. Pretty much every day, I would e-mail a copy to myself of that day’s work – just for safe-keeping. Hey, I worked hard for these words; I’m going to protect them.
But, once you reach this momentous goal, what will you do with it? Will you ever do anything with the story? Will you ever even read it again? At some point after finishing my first NaNo project and maybe even several months later, I pulled it out to read it. But I couldn’t. I didn’t like it. It was so boring. I was a bit sad or maybe mad, but decided to just put it away. I may or may not read it or reference it in the future; that is my choice. But I will preserve and protect it just in case.
My second attempt has actually seen the light of day more than once. I pulled it out and perused and discovered that I liked some of it. In fact, I have used parts of it and have ideas how I might use more of it. Oh, and I even decided to make it into my own Kindle book – the unedited version. How fun is that to be able to whip out my Kindle and reference something that I wrote for NaNo.
You can do this thing. You did it before; you can do it again.
Who knows where you will journey in this year’s adventure?
Who knows where it will end up - either the story line or the actual document?
Rule Number One: Have fun with it!
