Writing a novel takes more than just blood, sweat, and tears. It takes a steady dose of willpower, fortitude, guts, and maybe just a bit of delusion and a willingness to believe this is all going to be worth it. It’s timetables, word counts, cups of caffeine, and ugly-crying well into the wee hours of the day.
Now distill all that into 30 days of abject terror, self-inflicted torture, and glory. This is NaNoWriMo.
Year after year, millions of wordsmiths across the planet limber up their fingers and turn on their creative juices for one of the biggest online events of the year: National Novel Writing Month. The goal is simple: Write a 50,000-word novel within the 30 days of November or less. Novelists who reach a certain mark of progress earn achievement badges to celebrate their journey, and paste their entire finished work into the site to claim the final voctory badge as a winner. Novelists may then choose to look into publishing their work and seeing their work either on the stacks of a physical bookstore, or that of an online version.
So it goes.
The cardinal rule to writing — any kind of writing — is to just get something down on paper.
“Start by getting something—anything—down on paper.” -Anne Lamott #NaNoWriMo2015 #inspiration pic.twitter.com/HG0LNTJEVZ
— Lori Nelson Spielman (@lnelsonspielman) November 20, 2015
Some writers need to prep themselves for the task. for some, it’s that tall cup of coffee.
Perks of writing in the morning: The perfect blend of alert brain and fresh-brewed coffee. #NaNoWriMo2015 #amwriting
— L Z Marie (@LZMarieAuthor) November 22, 2015
Others, it’s the perfect playlist.
Me ? Basically, Adele has ruined my writing today. #NaNoWriMo2015 pic.twitter.com/9KJ8LA1hAj
— Elisabeth Paige (@elisabethpaigex) November 20, 2015
And to some, it’s tooling with their font types and sizes.
It sounds ridiculous but sometimes changing the type size or font can get you through a block. #amwriting #NaNoWriMo2015
— Natalie Blitt (@natalie_blitt) November 20, 2015
When the rest of the Internet was either ranting over the political correctness of Thanksgiving or bemoaning the presence of unpleasant relatives, NaNoWriMo writers are simply ecstatic at the idea of food after a good, long stretch of writing.
End of Day 27. 51, 478 Words. Winner winner, turkey dinner! #NaNoWriMo #NaNoWriMo2015
— DadCraft73 (@DadCraft73) November 27, 2015
Others are barely keeping it together…
Finally hit 20,000 words ??? @NaNoWriMo #NaNoWriMo2015 #nanowrimoywp pic.twitter.com/zTTLYMqhc9
— Maggie Royce (@maggieroyce) November 27, 2015
And others have no idea what to do with their lives.
#NaNoWriMo2015 ends on Monday… I’m nowhere near finished. I’m ok with it. I think. Ugh. pic.twitter.com/ab366URZrd
— The Horror Honeys (@HorrorHoneys) November 27, 2015
and there are the Olympic-level champs who do get through their goal word count.
Me when I rock my daily word count. #NaNoWriMo2015 #amwriting Now my reward: everything @RichardSHarmon pic.twitter.com/BAVKXTTOOs
— Sabrina Haslimeier (@canadiansabs) November 20, 2015
Even hitting the halfway mark is cause for great emotions.
I reached 25k! Guys! I’m halfway there! ? #NaNoWriMo2015 pic.twitter.com/lFe1pGdOaz
— Elisabeth Paige (@elisabethpaigex) November 20, 2015
It gets real, real quick.
Only 10 more days, #NaNoWriMo2015! You can do it! pic.twitter.com/6YSJTmgn45
— Anna Bradley (@annabradley472) November 20, 2015
The struggle is real.
A Writer’s emotional roller coaster…Don’t we all know it..#NaNoWriMo #NaNoWriMo2015 pic.twitter.com/I7doXJ9q2P
— Purey (@MissPurey) November 25, 2015
And woe betide anyone who dismisses this feat of words.
When someone refers to your writing as a ‘nice hobby’….#NaNoWriMo2015 #amwriting pic.twitter.com/c5QdNVTd7K
— L Z Marie (@LZMarieAuthor) November 22, 2015
Encouragement is never in short supply.
#NaNoWriMo2015 THE END IS NEAR. But don’t be discouraged if people finish #Nanowrimo ahead of you. Win on your own time, own terms.
— Beth Cato (@BethCato) November 23, 2015
We’re nearing the end with only a week to go, but don’t give up. You can do it! #amwriting #nanowrimo2015 pic.twitter.com/NxUGYb2iJ5
— HeyJamie (@HeyJamie) November 23, 2015
Everyone has their own cheerleader, no matter how little.
“Mommy, just draw a picture. They’re worth a thousand words.” ~ my son, Logan, helping me with #NaNoWriMo2015 .
— Justine Manzano (@justine_manzano) November 21, 2015
The purpose of #NaNoWriMo2015 is to help you turn out better writing than you’d ever imagined you were capable of, after all.
Are you a better writer now than you were at the beginning of #nanowrimo2015 ? @nanowrimo @nanopals pic.twitter.com/ims1ydA1Rz
— NaNo PA Elsewhere (@PaElsewhereNaNo) November 22, 2015
It always helps to dream big.
#NaNoWriMo2015 participants: you’ve got this! Here are some folks who’ve made it in the past. Dream big; write hard. pic.twitter.com/CcKslIoWtw
— University BookStore (@ubookstorereads) November 22, 2015
To the winners of #NaNoWriMo2015, we give all the best salutations and commend you to the gods of writing!
FINISHED IT! #NaNoWriMo #NaNoWriMo2015 50.151 words!!!! pic.twitter.com/RCvcAy1BfP
— Strych Nina ✡ (@umgelebt) November 19, 2015
And to everyone, congratulations for making it this far! We hope to see your works on the stacks or online soon! You’re all winners!
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