A few days after nanowrimo ends, I always do something silly. I print off those hard earned pages, tie them up with a piece of ribbon, and wait to open them again when I am ready to start editing.
Some critics say that nanowrimo creates a lot of bad novels, and they’re ushered into the coming New Year due to writers pushing and rushing to get them published. There is some truth to this. If I didn’t go back and edit my novels, I would be left with a crazed, frenzied jumble of words. However, if I go back and refine my story, then the hard work of nanowrimo has left me with a pretty awesome Christmas gift.
One of the hardest things about writing a novel is getting the words down on paper. You don’t just magically have a 90,000 word story appear, you have to write all those words, and it can be daunting. With nanowrimo, a community of writers from all over the world comes together to write, encourage, rant, and spur one another on to get 50,000 words written down in a month.
Those words may not be beautiful or put together or make much sense, but it takes determination, discipline, and hard work to get that many words written down in such a short period of time. And if you can muster up enough determination and discipline to do that, than you have everything you need to go back and edit, and turn that lump of words into a polished novel.
Nanowrimo has been a rewarding gift to me. Without that
month, I wouldn’t have all the novels written that I do now. I may have never
taken my time to put my ideas on paper, flesh them out, and make them come
alive.
So in the coming New Year, I am looking forward to sitting
down on a cold, snowy day and untying that ribbon. I’ll celebrate with a good
cup of coffee, congratulate myself on getting another idea down on paper, and
then get to work and make something great out of it.
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