One of our goals here at Today’s Author is to help all of the writers among us to do what we love to do: write. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by talking to each other and learning from each other. Our Writers Circle series is designed to do just that – provide a chance for us to discuss writing, editing and publishing questions.
This week’s topic is:
It’s a special Thursday edition of The Writers Circle! Now that we are mid-way through October, we wanted to check in once again to see how many of our community members are joining the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are excitedly anticipating November 1 and the start of NaNoWriMo 2015. What are your thoughts are about NaNoWriMo this year?
After taking our unscientific poll, leave a comment to discuss NaNoWriMo: Have you participated in NaNoWriMo? What have you learned or gained from it? Will you do it again? If you haven’t done NaNoWriMo, are there reasons you would or would not consider it in the future?
Let’s discuss this in the comments and see what our community thinks.
Today's Author 
Absolutely, positively, hell to the no.
I have participated in NaNoWriMo and similar writing marathons on several occasions. What I end up with is a steaming pile of verbal vomit that I don’t want to touch again even years later, so in the end, it is a wasted effort. I come to despise what I’m writing and everything about it.
I fully support NaNoWriMo and give two thumbs up to anyone who is participating. I just don’t write well with enforced daily word counts. I write pretty much every day, often more than a thousand words a day all told. But I much prefer a “soft” deadline.
I like guidelines. I do well writing flash fiction. The NaNoWriMo format, however, has proven itself to be not for me.
Well, considering it’s taken me six years to write my first YA novel, no, I somehow don’t think NaNoWriMo would work for me 😀
Absolutely!!! And for some of the same reasons Lyn and Cie don’t participate, actually. LOL. I am a slow writer. Add to that chronic illness that requires some pretty heavy duty management of energy, and actually finishing my YA novel is … a future thing. Given that, I have found Nano to be a great shot of adrenaline, community, and experimentation. A chance to literally throw everything, including the kitchen sink at the page, to figure out my best processes, and to rack up the word count enough to feel like I am actually making progress as a writer. I have also been able to build a very vibrant writer community around myself through people I have met through Nano. A very nice thing to have when the daily writing grind feels a little too much like a long trudge in the mud.
(If you are doing Nano, feel free to add me as a writing buddy 🙂 My nano nick is sea glass.)
I, for one, wish you all the best, Nilla [my granddaughter can’t say Vanilla, it’s always Nilla 😉 ] Chronic illness is something I understand. If you ever need a beta reader for your YA novel in the future, keep me in mind.
Thanks, Lyn! I will. It’s funny about your granddaughter. My neighbor when I was growing up could never say my name (Janelle) when he was little and would always call me Vanilla instead.
😀
I don’t think I could ever participate because I do all my typing with one hand. Expecting 50,000 words in 30 days would be ridiculous. Aside from that fact, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t go for it anyway. Writing projects are a spiritual experience for me in addition to the drive that makes me type my life away.
I do applaud the writers who will be eating, sleeping, and living the NaNoWriMo this next month. I wish them great success in their endeavor.
I have never participated before, but I plan on jumping in this year. It’s more of a social experiment, really, just to see what I can do and what comes of it. I agree with the others who work better with soft deadlines or Who right more slowly. I’m certainly a writer who falls into both categories. However, it’ll be interesting to see what the hard deadline and The whole experience is like. I don’t really expect anything publishable to come out of it but we’ll see. I hope everybody who participates has a lot of fun and moves dramatically forward in their writing.
it’ll be interesting to see what the hard deadline and The whole experience is like.
Christopher, it will be your worst nightmare 🙂 You’ll be ninety percent excited and ten percent afraid…or maybe that should be ten percent excited and ninety percent afraid 😀
Lol. Thanks for the warning! I have a few strategies going in so that is tempering the fears. 😬😀
I’m going to try something rather bold and see how it goes (yes, that is a teaser – 😉)
Oh, you tease, you 🙂
I hope you have a great time and enjoy the process!
Thanks! It should be interesting!
I’ve done NaNoWriMo each year since 2006. I look at it as my chance to try something new, be it a different style, a different format or a different subject matter. It also gives me an excuse to prioritize writing over other silly things like doing the laundry or the dishes. NaNoWriMo provides more than just deadlines or daily wordcounts – it provides a ton of forums and community events that support your writing no matter what stage you or it is in.
Clearly it is not for everyone, but in my opinion if you go into it with a specific goal – whether it is to write 50,000 words or simply write as much as possible (or at all) – then you have something there to make it successful for you.
LOL you’re a glutton for punishment, Rob 😉
I don’t need the nudge to write and the NaNo format isn’t for me. But I love the new category of Rebel NaNo. Perhaps next year I’ll try the Rebel NaNo. Good luck to all you who NaNo and may you WriMo, but always your best. ❤ Shari *: )
I have too much other writing on my desk at the moment and with just starting to recover from tendinitis, I think an additional 50k words would finish me off.