WriMo

Tools of the Trade

One of my co-workers at my first job had a sign which said "Aim low to achieve your goals and avoid disappointment".

November has come and gone, bringing with it the annual writing challenge known as National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, which I previously discussed on this blog this time last year. You can read about that here.

Anyway, I opted not to do it this year, as I don't think it's the best challenge. The fact that I'm working in a job that's five days a week rather than four days doesn't help either. However, I still wanted to take something from my previous attempt.

With that in mind, I opted to pay lip service to the challenge by simply doing WriMo. This notion took on the following differences:

1. No enrolment. NaNoWriMo involves registering on the website to monitor your progress with your circle of Writing Buddies. I did nothing of the sort, but I did keep in touch with numerous participants on Twitter, offering encouragement.
2. No special projects. I've heard that many participants often use NaNo to experiment with genres they don't normally write in. I originally did that, but this year I focused on my existing WIPs.
3. No word count goals. In order to keep on target, you have to write an average of 1,667 words a day to meet the 50,000 word goal for the month. My goal was simply to write every day, as I've been a little out of practice lately.

So, what did I manage? Well, I managed to write every day, but there are good days and bad days. Work is quite numbing, and I attend a writers' group some evenings, but even then I managed to write at least a paragraph. I've not made a lot of progress, but what I have written has been quite well-received. On top of that, I've started taking a notepad into work, and am often sketching out scenes. So, if anything, this home-spun challenge has taught me to become a better planner.

Whether you managed to write 50,000 words or not, I'd like to offer my congratulations for managing to make it through the month. Seeing it to the end is something to be proud of.

Happy writing, and if I don't post anything else here soon, Merry Christmas.