It’s Writing Month!

By K Wordbird Bate

     For many people, just getting started on any kind of writing project is really tough.

It’s legend the many creative excuses we can come up with. Suddenly the dishes must be done, that walk in the woods, change the oil in the car. Even sharpen the pencils soars to the top of the To Do list, when faced with the blank page.

     Many of our most successful writers simply make the time, everyday, no excuses. Writers get up at 4 a.m. before the kids and spouse. They go to the same bar or café every day; they set alarms, they close office doors, they save that precious around midnight hour, when much of the world has gone to sleep. If they get really desperate (and lucky), they rent a writer’s cabin deep in the woods, or sign up for a class or workshop where an instructor and sheer terror of embarrassment (“I don’t have anything today,”) pushes them to write.

     In sunny, crazy California a man named Chris Baty (is that pronounced Batty?) set up a hilarious, fun, fast moving but easy-going web site for National Novel Writing Month. There is a great way to get that big project out of your head and onto the screen or paper. There are virtually no rules, except one: you must write 50,000 words between Nov 1 and Nov 30. If you do, you get a winning Certificate. Robots check your word count at the end of the month and then delete your work, so Mr. Batty doesn’t know and does not really care what your 50,000 words are about. It’s strictly a fun challenge for you.  In addition, it doesn’t have to be a novel. Chris says he uses the word because people like it. But you can write anything you like. I encourage you to enter if you have a big project for work, a family history, or a non-fiction book you want to get going. Do that.

     Here’s some of Baty’s advice, from the October 2008 Writer’s Digest (a good source of inspiration, ideas and practical advice, by the way). This is good advice for any project in the rough draft stages.

Don’t Edit. “You have to embrace November as an experiment in pure output. Delete nothing and use word-count goals as your sole measure of success.” He says shoot for “imperfect glory.” I so agree.

Invite Friends and Family. “Writing with a group--even a long distance one--raises everyone’s accountability, makes writing a shared adventure and gives you a shoulder to cry on.”

Write a beginning, middle and end. “Force yourself to knock out a beginning, middle and end in November.” He says 50,000 words is quite a short novel, so you could hit the goal and only be half-finished with your project.  I am big on rough outlines, so you set your direction. It’s like starting out on a walking journey with no map, otherwise. There are many ways to map out a project basic outline, and it will save you all kinds of trouble.

Give November to your novel. “For one month, agree to orient life around your book.”

Expect ups and downs. “…stick to your word-count goals and I guarantee week four will be one of the creative highlights of your life.” 

Go to NaNoWriMo.org to have fun, get support and create 50,000 words of glory.

Let yourself bloom.

© K Wordbird Bate

photo by travlarkbostons