Did you NaNoWriMo? By Sara Huter

“I’ve almost talked myself into doing NaNoWriMo,” a friend wrote. Because this was a writer friend, I deduced that this must be a writing thing. So I Googled NaNoWriMo and learned that it stands for National Novel Writing Month (www.NaNoWriMo.org).

In short, it’s a challenge: Write a 50,000-word novel in a month. Writers update their word counts as they progress, and submit the entire manuscript at the end of the month to verify total word count. I don't get it, my husband said. What do you get if you win? A certificate in which you have to write your own name. What's to stop people from cheating? For a certificate? The true prize, apparently, is the achievement.

I calculated that 1,700 words daily would be necessary to accomplish this feat. That’s doable, I thought, but tough. I’d have to commit two hours a day. Truthfully, though, I couldn’t commit all thirty days. I’d already signed up for a writing conference which would strip away three days. I might as well forget about the weekends since I’ve yet been able to convince my toddler that writing is time well-spent when there’s coloring, climbing and canine-tormenting to be done. We’d have guests for Thanksgiving weekend so better not count on having that Thursday or Friday either.

Okay, down to nineteen working days. That’s a little over 2,600 words a day. Probably not doable. But still, the concept intrigued me. Life-changing, past participates proclaimed. It would change my entire perspective on the writing process, they promised. But what truly intrigued me was that I knew my competitive nature would not allow failure. I’d kill myself to make this goal.

Worse case scenario: I’d discover my limitations. And there was no sign up fee. So what the hey.

November 1 – We’re off! Only aforementioned toddler has the flu and I am at home cradling him, as is the only way he’ll sleep when he’s sick. Try to balance my laptop on the shoulder of the couch. Kiddo wakes up and cries. I close the laptop and rock him to sleep. Word count at day’s end: 0.

November 2 – Copy and paste November 1. Word count at day’s end: 0.

November 3 – Kiddo is still sick, but I’ve paid for the writing conference and I’m going, dammit. My parents have agreed to take care of kiddo, who is showing signs of life again. Hopefully he’s over it and I won’t have to deal with the mommy guilt until he’s in therapy in twenty years. Word count at day’s end: 0.

November 4 –I want to die. Writing conference is a blur. I give up and go bury myself under the sheets and don’t come out until Sunday. Word count at day’s end: 0

November 5 – Feel much better. My little germ pot happily waves bye-bye to Grammy and Grampy and uncles who all have the flu. Go home to a husband that has the flu. Kiddo wants to go play outside. Word count day’s end: 0

November 6 – Ah. Back at work. Blessed lunch hour and I can get some writing done. Quick calculation of my daily word count goal: 3,000 words. Word count day’s end: 0.

November 7 thru 17 – This sucks. The plan to write over my lunch hour is a failure. A thousand and one reasons/excuses. Major revelation as to why my New Year’s revelations go unaccomplished every year: Time is scarce. My husband smirks, and says, “duh.” Sadly, no time to kill him right now. At least get started before the month is half over. Word count at week’s end: 5,244. Quick recalculation of daily goal: 6,400 words per day. Resolve to get up at four a.m. the rest of the month.

November 16 – Got up at five-thirty. That left only thirty minutes to write before getting the kid up, dressed, fed, hosed off, and dressed again by seven. But I refused to let my measly half hour go to waste. I wrote 2,307 words. Atrocious, I’m sure, but I did it. Wait. 2,307 words? If I’d actually written for two hours, I would have written…9,200 words. Wow. Maybe I can still do this. Word count at day’s end: 7,551.

November 17 – Good day. Wrote 6,654 words. Word count at day’s end: 14,205.

November 20 thru 22 – Managed to keep to my four a.m. schedule two days of the three, but only wrote 863 words, as I spent the time updating my resume for a job opportunity. Word count: 15,068.

November 27 – How could this be the last week? Word count: 18,311.

November 28 –Keeping to the four a.m. schedule, plus discovered that “Nemo” will keep kiddo entertained for at least fifteen minutes, thirty minutes if repeat, “fish!” every time kiddo does. Every little bit helps. Word count: 24,884.

November 29 –Never gonna make it. Can’t believe I’ve written more this week than I have in two years. Word count: 35,112.

November 30 – 9,000 words this morning, and sneaking bits of writing between meetings at work. At five p.m. before I go home I have 48,298 words written. Get home. Hubby’s home! He’s taking the night off to look after kiddo while I finish up. Glad I didn’t kill him two weeks ago. By seven p.m. I have 50,306 words written. I did it! I copy and paste all my files into one file. That takes two hours. It’s nine p.m. and I decide to do a quick spell check. Big mistake. Two hours later, I’m only half way through. I decide to ixnay the spell check and I submit, forgetting to encrypt. Oh well, I can’t imagine anyone would want to steal this dreadful piece of work. A screen comes up saying “Congratulations!” I read that eighty percent of my peers have given up, so I’m a part of the proud twenty percent. I print up my certificate telling me that I’m a winner, and I go have a big glass of wine.

December 1 – I go to work feeling lighter and pondering my NaNoWriMo experience. I hardly remember what I’ve written and I’m scared to look at it. But, it truly did change my entire perspective on writing, as promised. In fact, I realized, I still didn’t know my limitation. Imagine if I’d not had even half of the disruptions.

It wasn’t the writing. It was the release. I’d allowed myself to write badly. Very badly. And because of that, subplots were developed. Characters were fleshed out. . Not only did I know these people, I knew their story. And I knew how they acted, reacted and interacted. Ironically, the only thing left to do was to write, as I'm sure the second draft will probably be entirely rewritten. But the hard work was done. No more sitting at the keyboard, stalled, because I wasn't sure what my character might do in a particular situation. Now I know her. No more asking, what should I do to make this plot more interesting?

Somehow, somewhere in the frenzy of just putting words down on a page, that part of my mind was released and it just came out. Emotions were felt, and described accurately, albeit clumsily. I always wondered how Nora Roberts did it. Most writers take years to finish a novel, and I'd once calculated that she wrote, revised, and published a novel every three months (as you know now, I’m fond of calculating). Now I know. She just sits down and does it. And I'd bet she doesn't even put in overtime.

By day, Sara Huter is a risk manager at a bank in Kansas. At night, she's a wife, mom, and dog walker. Between four and six a.m., she's a writer.