Sunday, 16 October 2016

What The Hell Is NaNoWriMo And Why Is It So Amazing


Welcome to a new post!

Today's one is a little different to my recent posts, as today I want to focus on one of my biggest passions: writing. When I first found out about this weirdly named thing called NaNoWriMo I got so exited I came up with the whole plot in less than a week even though it was the middle of July.

Some of you might have clicked on this blogpost, not having any idea what to expect or what the hell NaNoWriMo is. So let's clear this up first. NaNoWriMo stand for National Novel Writing Month. Each November millions of writers from all around the world make it a challenge to each write a book of at least 50,000 words in 30 days.

If you think that's easy you've either written way too many books already in this time or you have got no idea. Life loves getting in the way during these days, but it's honestly the most amazing thing to do besides studying, working, socializing.

It's an opportunity for writers to finally write that one idea they might have had in their head for month, others that just have that one topic they always wanted to write about, others perfectly plan out their story and plot beforehand,  and then there are the panters that go into NaNoWriMo, with no clue what they are going to write about. 50,000 words in 30 days equals about 1,667 words a day, which is totally manageable.


I've already done NaNoWriMo twice before, and won both times (winning in this case means getting those 50K in before it hits December). Even though I usually have a lot of school stuff happening during this time, and I really thought I couldn't do it, I still found a way. That ended up in a lot of late night writing, but it's gives you such a nice feeling to still have been able to manage to create something like this at a busy time.

So why the hell is she writing this in October? Because it's what participants call NaNo Prep month/time. The people that don't "pant" it, start coming up and prepping their ideas in order to know what they are planning on doing. If you plan on participating, and you've got quite a busy schedule, I recommend you doing this, as it will take a lot of pressure off of you if you actually get competetive about it. But that is all up to you.

What's also really lovely about the whole challenge is, that due to so many people taking part of it, there's a huge motivating community. I personally love going through the hashtag on Instagram and Twitter to motivate myself, especially when I don't feel like writing at all that day. There's also a NaNoWriMo website on which you can count your words, get your winners certificate, special offers when you win, find writing buddies on, as well as prepping and writing helps, and soooo much more stuff. I don't think I would have fought through it if I wouldn't have seen other people's process, struggle and participation to motivate myself to keep going.


But to be honest in the end you will also need to motivate yourself from time to time. You need to remind yourself why you want to do this. Why is it that you want to write this story? What motivates you? Would you like to publish your stories one day? Are you doing it to explore something new? Are you doing it because you want to spend time with someone and learn about their interests by trying them out yourself? Any reason is right. There is no wrong reason why you want to write. You need to keep that goal inside your head, put it on a piece of paper and out it up somewhere in your room if you feel like it will inspire you to keep on writing. There's always a way.

It's not an easy thing to do, because 30 days can turn out being preeeetty long when you are trying to get a certain amount of words done each day and still want to it to turn out well and have a life beside all of that writing. Life will get in the way on some days, writers block will kick in at some points, the feelings of doubt and failure when you aren't happy with your result or you haven't reached a certain goal. But guys, that's okay. That happens to all of us, whether you write or not.

This month of writing is not about writing a book that is perfect and ready for publishing. This is about creating a shitty first draft that will then hopefully lead to a perfect story that is ready for publishing afterwards if you end up editing it and perfecting it. It's all about getting those words out of your mind onto paper and having a first storyline. You don't edit during this month. You simply write down everything that comes to your mind, as shitty as those words and the plot may sound to you. Editing starts in Dezember. November is the time that you sprinkle your whole fantasy on the paper without rethinking everything that you just wrote and thinking you are most terrible writer this world has ever seen. Because you are not. If you wouldn't enjoy writing, there's a pretty low chance that you would actually start NaNoWriMo anyway, unless you are being forced to do so, I guess.


If you have any interest or passion in writing, I truly recommend you to try this out. Me and millions of other people on this planet have found it to be so rewarding, even if it can be tough from time to time, and I'm pretty sure you will think so as well. If you still aren't completely convinced or you've got any questions, I will leave a few links at the end for you to check out to find out more and get inspired and motivated to take part.

I'm really really sorry if this whole post is a complete mess because I've been writing it over a few days with breaks in between, and my thoughts often get really messy when I'm passionate about something. I also just plotted a whole background story that will play a huge role and includes coming up with a fictional war, so my thoughts are all over the place right now. I'm really sorry if you don't even get what the hell I am talking about. If you have made it till here, I congratulate you. Here's 100 dancing sprinkles to you! :D

Basically what I am trying to say with this post is, that it's an incredible for any people that have any interest in writing to live out that dream. You don't need to force yourself for years to jot down that one idea you had once upon a time and really liked, but keep putting off to write, and keep stopping whenever you've done a little something. It's the perfect opportunity to finally motivate yourself to write and get that idea out of your head and onto paper.

NaNoWriMo has lead to the success of many authors, such as Rainbow Rowell for example. Whether you are doing this for fun or because you really want to earn your money by writing books one day, November is the perfect time to do it. Now get the hell off of this probably very boring blogpost and get writing! Let your creativity flow and let's create masterpieces together!

I will link my NaNoWriMo profile HERE which you can check out if you want. Here is also a list of my favourite places to find inspiration and motivation on.

Website:

Youtube:

Shaelin Writes https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb-wzF6DrSslXq3qE61YL7A

Katytastic https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsOUDYZWyeI7u6rzZCexkw

Little Book Owl https://www.youtube.com/user/LittleBookOwl

NaNoWriMo https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTNHbhIfLSpx_JN_1whC13Q


I really hope that you enjoyed this post, and that you learned something new and now feel inspired to take up that challenge of writing 50K in November. If you have decided to do so, whether you already knew about NaNo before or not, let me know! :)


Have an amazing week ♥


Love, Jacqueline Xx

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