One of the things that makes NaNoWriMo fun is taking the pressure off writing.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, there is pressure to write 50,000 words but some of the pressure is\u00c2\u00a0alleviated by focusing on quantity instead of quality.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s difficult to tie up one’s inner editor who wants to correct all spelling and grammar mistakes immediately.\u00c2\u00a0 Lots of writers never reach the end of their stories or novels because they won’t allow themselves.\u00c2\u00a0 They allow the inner editor to take control of the work too soon or they let the characters do their own thing allowing the characters to avoid reaching their journey’s end.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some professional writers scoff at the thought of NaNoWriMo.\u00c2\u00a0 “How dare someone call themselves a novelist when they only put in one month’s effort?”\u00c2\u00a0 That thought is a little misguided.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, the person is a\u00c2\u00a0novelist but only in first draft form.\u00c2\u00a0 Due to my college art class\u00c2\u00a0which required assignments be completed\u00c2\u00a0with charcoal\u00c2\u00a0or latex paint, I appreciate the effort it takes to create drawings and paintings.\u00c2\u00a0 Wouldn’t it make sense for a reader who has been through the first draft writing process to appreciate the final product even more than before?\u00c2\u00a0 Very few writers get a nearly finished manuscript when writing a first draft.\u00c2\u00a0 Not all of the NaNoWriMo participants will be able to cross the finish line.\u00c2\u00a0 Life gets in the way, it’s easier to procrastinate, or the desire to take on such a crazy task leaves the person.\u00c2\u00a0 To carve out that much time takes planning and dedication.<\/p>\n
The other thought is “Why waste time writing 50,000 words of crap?”\u00c2\u00a0 Not all of it is crap.\u00c2\u00a0 But remember when you first began making up stories about your stuffed animals or people you know?\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing was “right” or “wrong”; everything just happened.\u00c2\u00a0 For people who haven’t written in a long time this is a way to reignite the wonder of telling a story.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone has a story inside that’s waiting to be told.<\/p>\n
Other published\u00c2\u00a0novelists are on board with NaNoWriMo.\u00c2\u00a0 Sara Gruen\u00c2\u00a0has used it to complete the first draft of three of her novels – and at least one of them made it to the top of The New York Times<\/em> Best Seller List.\u00c2\u00a0 Last year NaNoWriMo organizers were able to line up pep talks from published authors.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The pep talks came from\u00c2\u00a0Julianna Baggott, Neil Gaiman, Sue Grafton, Sara Gruen, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik, Deanna Raybourn and Tom Robbins.\u00c2\u00a0 They are archived<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0on the NaNoWriMo site if you wish to read them.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n This year NaNoWriMo participants offered their suggestions on who to receive pep talks from.\u00c2\u00a0 The list of pep talk authors for 2008<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0was published today!\u00c2\u00a0 Piers Anthony, Kelley Armstrong, Gayle Brandeis, Meg Cabot, Janet Fitch, Brian Jacques, Katherine Paterson, Philip Pullman, and Jonathon Stroud will have emails winging their way to our email inboxes.<\/p>\n Good luck to all the participants.\u00c2\u00a0 Remember… your first words don’t have to be perfect and they don’t have to be the beginning of the novel; they just have to be written.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the things that makes NaNoWriMo fun is taking the pressure off writing.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, there is pressure to write 50,000 words but some of the pressure is\u00c2\u00a0alleviated by focusing on quantity instead of quality.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s difficult to tie up one’s inner editor who wants to correct all spelling and grammar mistakes immediately.\u00c2\u00a0 Lots of… Continue reading NaNoWriMo – Thoughts from Published Novelists & 2008 Pep Talks<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,54],"tags":[67,72],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-event","category-writing","tag-nanowrimo","tag-pep-talk","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":551,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions\/551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}