It’s in its tenth year of happening and the numbers continue to grow. But what is it about NaNo that attracts so many participants or more importantly from my perspective what attracts me to it?
I sometimes think, given my history of non-completion, that it is an ego issue. I bring baggage to the event and it’s that which distracts me from the idea of merely putting down on paper words. After all is that not the definition, or at least part of the definition of the process of writing. And it’s the distraction of what technology to use and what techniques to do or what genre to embrace. In some ways the success of and the resultant flurry of activity and the overwhelm of advice, problems, lateral distractions like national and regional groups all detract from the essence of writing and that is, writing is a solitary activity, at least that’s what novel writing has been from its inception.
So my idea for this year is to approach NaNo with an ecological mindset and only carrying out a minimal interaction with the site.
Remember, the point of NaNoWriMo is to WRITE A 50,000 WORD NOVEL IN 30 DAYS. It’s not to make buddies, or raise money for charity no matter how laudable that goal might be, nor is it to be in competition with some other group or any other of the myriad possibilities that the web can offer.
You job, should you accept it is to WRITE TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHER INESSENTIAL ACTIVITIES PERIOD. Leave all the distraction and baggage in an other place.
