9 strong reasons why writers should PLUNGE into NaNoWriMo

Image courtesy of Jon Candy via Flickr Creative Commons

NaNoWriMo is the Olympics of the Writing World…

…except you are the sole representative of your country. And you have to do every single sport. Everyday.

It’s also kinda like spending a month in solitary confinement, but with more caffeine. The goal of NaNo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That’s 1667 words per day.

In short: it’s grueling.

But the rewards outweigh the mind-crushing, soul-smothering moderate difficulties.

Do you want to call yourself a writer? Here are 9 reasons why you should say “fork it” and plunge into NaNoWriMo:

1. Get a free boost to your writing career

I don’t care if this is your first time ever putting words on a page, or if you’ve got twelve epic fantasy novels under your belt.

NaNo is to writers what a 40-day fast is to dieters. Do NaNo, and you will become a better writer. You will finish something (or get really dang close).

You will be one step closer to your Writer dreams.

2. You will get writing-improving data

For many new Writers, NaNo is about failure as much as it’s about writing. And that’s a really good thing.

When your goal is to write ~1700 words a day, you will probably mess up a few times. Tracking your daily word count will give you a good idea of your writing patterns.

If you track your word count by the hour (i.e., jot down how many words you write from 8-9 am, 9-10 am, etc.), you will learn very quickly what time you are the most creatively productive. That is super valuable, but we’ll talk about that later.

3. YOU’LL FINISH A F********** book!

This should be reason alone to make you want to sign up for NaNo, you’re crazy.

But, you’re still here, so I guess I’ll give you the other ten reasons.

4. Your mastery over the craft of Writing will increase drastically

Ever hear about the 10,000 Hour Rule?

Malcolm Gladwell, a “pop psych author,” claims that you can become a leader in any field if you spend 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice.”

Not sure if I believe that, but I do believe you have to practice writing for a ridiculously long time before you can create truly engaging works – masterpieces.

Consider NaNo your chance to take a big ol’ bite out of those 10k hours.

5. Holy Crap are you still reading?

YOU’LL FINISH A FREAKING BOOK. HAVEN’T YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THAT?

This is just a picture to keep you reading. Why? Because I really want you to get to #9. Badly. 

Image courtesy of optische_taeuschung via Flickr Creative Commons 

6. You will learn what it really takes to be a real writer

You know you have to write everyday, right?

But what does that actually feel like? How does that fit into your day?

NaNo gives you a chance to “test drive” the professional writer’s lifestyle. For most of us, we’re going to love it. And after NaNo, we’ll try to find ways to keep up this X words a day.

7. NaNoWriMo forces writers to uphold this healthy habit:

KEEP WRITING, NOT EDITING.

I promise I will write a post about this. And go in to great detail.

For now, know this: your internal editor does not want you to participate in NaNo. He does not want you to write a single “bad” sentence, ever.

He is the devil.

He is the anti-christ of COMPLETE FIRST DRAFTS (aka, the elusive holy grail for new writers). NaNo will teach you how to ignore that dreadful little man.

8. You will get to see the next step in the Novel Writing process

After NaNo is over, and you have your mostly-completed first draft all neat and packaged (or if you’re like me, your book looks more like that half-abandoned box of wires that sleeps under your bed, waiting, just waiting for someone to accidentally open it and unleash the tangled horrors within) –

Ahem. As I was saying…

After NaNo is over, you will get to explore the editing process. This is exciting because editing is where the REAL fun of writing begins.

And by “fun,” I mean “oh, this is why famous writers tend to be dark and depressing and a tiny bit suicidal.”

9. You will write more if you have a community of peers and friends to support you!

I want YOU to be my NaNoWriMo writing partner!

1. Go to the NaNo website.
2. Sign up.
3. Enter in your Novel.
4. Add my username: PSHoffman (To add a buddy, use the search bar at the top and type in the exact username)

Come on, let’s write our books!!!

Comment below if you will do NaNoWriMo this year. Leave your username if you want random internet strangers/friendly writers to add you.