Hello Stackers!
So here we are in July, a half year review under my belt. I was surprised to see in the first six months I have in fact achieved more than I thought I may have done before looking at the facts. Sure there are lots of projects I have not even begun yet, but I am not mad about it, which is evidence that The Artist Way and Big Magic learnings this year have cast a positive spell. In fact, I feel so changed that I hardly recogise myself in my journal entries from January. The biggest win for me is that as I reviewed each month, each day, I am coming to my desk to write everyday, commiting to my creative life. I see my dedication to my creative endeavours and I am rather proud of that.
In my humble writerly opinion…
Here I go again, a relatively newbie writer, spouting about something that most people will disagree with. Probably.
Last year I was very excited as November rolled around, I declared I was throwing myself into doing NaNoWriMo for the first time. For those that do not know what this is, let me enlighten you. National Novel Writing Month to use its full title, is where you commit to your novel and write 50,000 words in one month. I had a book idea, and during my retreat in the September I embarked upon some research and jotted the plot ideas down. I signed up for a reputable Novel Writing course and started to ready myself. I downloaded the calendar, joined a forum, I linked up with other writers I knew doing it, and followed the NaNo Instagram account.
All I had to do was make sure I completed 1,613 words a day for thirty-one days to hit 50,000 words. Easy.
At the point I started this challenge I had not however, factored in weekends with young children, days off with my husband, family events or my social calendar. Or any sick days. So, in fact, not so easy.
Still, I threw myself into the challenge with gusto and some days doubled down on the word count and the odd day, I tripled it. I was on fire, words pouring out of me. Ideas for new plots, side plots, extra characters coming at me fast. Long story short, it was hard work, but I did it! Not only that I did more than the word count needed to complete, and I had a novel 70% written. What? Amazing!
What happened next was that I decided I needed a rest month, I was tired, and with Christmas on the horizon and plenty of planning to do around that, I slacked off on the writing.
January, I find myself at my desk with Scrivener open. It’s been a while, so I read what I have already written to familiarise myself with the project. What I discover is some good writing however, I also see I have added in two main plotlines that are weaving in and out of each other and not in a smooth transitional way. I have also added in approximately fifteen new characters and there were a few already. Where to begin with this mess I have made? I separate the stories and I see what I was trying to achieve, and honestly, I was impressed but for the reader it had become confusing. Some of the characters had similar sounding names, some I had no idea who they were. I had carved out one very cool character, but he wasn’t working to his potential. I started to pull the whole thing apart and before I knew it, I was so disorientated. I spent four months dismantling it before getting under way to rebuild the novel. Then I just stopped. I needed to give my narrative nonfiction some love and threw myself into the querying process.
Three weeks ago, I pulled up the novel, the spark in me for it has gone. I couldn’t summon the energy, the project felt like it had flatlined. It’s time to pack it up and put it on a shelf. Maybe I will come back to it, maybe I won’t. I’ve come to terms with it.
What have I learned? A great deal. It’s ok to not finish something. It’s really ok to shelf it and move on to new ideas. What I wrote was evocative, moody and I am told (by an agent that read the first three chapters) that my world building was immersive, and the characters had so much potential. She also said she was a little confused as the story was so fast.
Fast. Writing it during NaNoWriMo I would type so fast to keep up with the new ideas flooding in, no time to pop them in the notebook for another day, I needed to hit that word count.
And so, to the point of this opinion, is NaNoWriMo doing more harm than good? I think so. For me. I cannot argue that many brilliant books have been born from that challenge, now sitting proudly on bookshop shelves, however, it did not suit my writerly brain. Who was I in competition with? Me, myself, and I, that’s who. Proving to myself I can achieve that number. In one month. Good for me, but at what cost?
Not taking it slower, meant not thinking the plot through thoroughly enough, not building characters correctly, speeding through world building, not adding to my research, not checking my storyboard. Ultimately, I feel I doomed the novel trying to outdo myself on a fast wordcount.
It’s a No-No from me this year and instead I will be holding something that month rather different to the Na-No challenge, something slower, meaningful and more enriching.
On my writing desk this month …
This month is all about wrapping up. Finishing projects before the summer and planning the new.
Launching the now complete ‘How to Write Memoir’ guide for beginner writers.
Finishing Big Magic with my Non-Fiction Book Support Group
Filling the final two spots available on the Writing Retreat
Compiling my July Stacks
Starting to plot out ideas for a new novel idea. Research. Putting some flesh on characters. Storyboarding. Ready for September writing.
Entering a competition - editing the piece I’ve written for it.
That seems like a lot but placing it here makes me accountable.
That’s it Stackers, I am signing off into the weekend! I wish you a happy one!
love Loretta x
How did I not know you had this Substack?!?! 😭😭 Anyway. Yes, NaNoWriMo...we have a love/hate relationship. It doesn’t suit my brain, either. I used to enjoy the community aspect of it but then that sort of fell to bits and I found community elsewhere.
I’m sorry you’re shelving the novel...but I mean, hey, you wrote some awesome words! perhaps one day you’ll pick it up again but yeah, 100% okay to set it down and move directly on to the next thing. 😎🥰
So interested in what you have said about Nano. Good for you for being brave enough to leave the Novel and move on. As we know it will never be wasted, no writing is ever wasted. Excited to hear more about your November plans...