NaNoWriMo & the Habit that Writers are Scared Of: Actually Writing

It took me from elementary school when a teacher told me my writing was too grown up, to a creative writing class in high school where a teacher told me she loved my writing and wanted to see me thrive, to start actively writing again for myself. And even then, I didn't have the time or the energy or motivation to write as I needed to.

There were major issues in my life that needed attending to before I could get to that stage, and the beginning of College was kind of that for me. I had freedom, but I didn't have time. So I gathered ideas and I wrote them down and set them aside, maybe writing a page a month on something I call the Prophet's Heir, inspired by a character in the second Tomb Raider game (yes, I know, but video games also inspired my choice of college degree so).

But then it got closer to graduation time and I originally I intended to go to UNCG for museum curation, but I knew grad school was a never ending abyss of assignments. So I took one look at myself and what I wanted to be doing, reading and writing, and took the chance on a break. At the time it was only a year I was expecting to take off, but then I got this idea for a sci fi novel, and I had my lovely friend Tatra who also had an idea she wanted to start, and so we embarked on an adventure together.

I was writing I think 10k every two to three days, and throwing the chapters at her, and in two months, the first draft was done and I also had a job that I adored and knew was the perfect fit for me. Both things led to me realizing that maybe the break was kind of a permanent thing, and maybe one day I will get back to museum curation, but for now, she's tucked away.

So, it seemed almost impossible that I could do that again, writing like that, but I sat down with the Prophet's Heir and the first 100 pages I had, and I outlined to the end and I was out there writing at least 1.5k a night, taking some breaks here and there, of course.

I finished that one too in about two months again, and then threw myself at my dream project, a series I don't talk about too much because of how important the MC is to me, but one day, you know. I fully plan on entirely rewriting and reworking that entire thing because I got three books in and realized it was just practice.

I was building a habit, and a good one at that, regularly writing, whether it was my usual thousands of words a day, or even just a few hundred, that's what matters. That you put yourself into the world you're writing, and you write. No a thousand words isn't better than two words.

Maybe in terms of hitting your word goal faster, but in that you were so tired you thought you wouldn't write anything, and yet you wrote two? Hell yeah! Go you!

Now sometimes things happen, sometimes you need a total break, and that's all good! But do not let that break become a "I haven't written in a week what if I can't write, so I just won't so I don't have to face my fear that's really just what comes after the first draft."

Yep, because that's what it is.

I get it all the time, when I get busy with work and let myself take a break because I'm so mentally exhausted I have no time but to work, go home, rest, and then sleep. I hit that point where it's been three days without writing and then suddenly it's been a week and I'm terrified to open the word doc again.

We all get it. Because what we write is a part of our hearts, and ultimately, hearts are fretful, frightful things, so we have to bolster them. We have to stand strong behind our words and build them up so they can't turn around and hurt us. And yes abandoning them entirely does do that. It allows them to build up and twist and turn and snarl and become something we've left behind and are terrified to cut open.

Now, not everyone has the ability to hit that thousand word goal, especially every night, and not everyone really wants to, which I think is what scares people off of NaNoWriMo. They're worried they'll start out strong and slip off and then suddenly every writer is here to ring a bell and point at you and go shame shame shame.

There's a reason there's a buddy and community function on the website itself, why most social media have groups for you to join. Because everyone is in this together, and everyone wants you to succeed.

And there are many veteran Nano writers that can tell you this: NaNo isn't about writing the fastest, or soaring over your goal. It's about completing the first draft, no matter how short, or how long, or how messy.

Get it out, and then go back to it and build from the bones that you've painstakingly created from your ideas.

So, here's my request of you, not a challenge, because I know that word can be a lot:

Go open your word doc, or even just your notebook of ideas, or a plain notebook, and write. Don't worry about a specific goal, just write. And then put it away when your brain is clear, don't struggle to squeeze out more, and then come back tomorrow. And the next day.

Don't go back and erase anything, leave it be. Don't tear any pages out and throw them away. Let the words exist, and then when they're all out, and waiting to be polished, that's when you'll get to go back and cut at things with a scythe.

But before that, share it with your friends. Even just one. Just one. Because I guarantee you they'll love that gesture of trust, and they'll love your words in a way you can't because everyone finds flaws with their creations, they are a part of us after all.

Go forth, writers, and actually write.