NaNoWriMo (the short version of National Novel Writing Month) is only 2 weeks away. Among the writing group, we just shorten it to nano and we understand that we’re not discussing very tiny robots or electronics.
During nano, people around the world are typing/writing furiously to pull 50,000 words (nothing says they have to be good words) from their brain. Some people find this easy. Some find it to be one of the most difficult things they’ve ever tried. But what is nano to me?
At its most basic, nano is a huge kick in the pants. It’s that shove from the high dive that you’ve been standing on and listening to your knees knocking together for the past 5 minutes. For some, the kick is what we need. For others, it’s a call to arms… a challenge to be bested and beaten into submission. For me, it wasn’t only the shove… but confirmation.
I don’t believe I’ve ever said in my life, “I want to be a writer.” I’ve always loved to read, and felt that I could write a story… but I’ve never really felt the draw to be an author. That changed in the spring/summer of 2014. I had a story that had been rolling around in my head for a long time (probably about 10 years or so). It was mostly an idea based on my disappointment with comic books.
People have loved and hated Superman ever since the day he was conceived. People that didn’t like him, seemed to always use the excuse that he was too powerful, and that the only consequence to all that power was his own conscience. So, I wondered, ‘What would happen with a hero who could have EVERY power… but there was an actual consequence to using them?’
I found out about nano through an online search, and found out that it took place in November, but they had something called Camp NaNo in July (only a few short weeks away from the initial thought to get the story out of my head for good). I signed up, and realized that for Camp, you could choose the amount of words to write. Since I had never written anything beyond a short fanfic before, I chose to write a 10,000 word short story (just to gauge if it was possible to write while working a full-time job).
I finished my short story with plenty of time to spare… but was hooked on writing. I needed to write more, but nano wasn’t for another 3 and a half months. I wrote 2 more short stories in that time. Then, before I knew it, nano was upon me. Time for the ultimate test.
Nano is a thrill. It pushes us to write without the fear of WHAT we’re writing… just to write. While some don’t like the idea of putting something down on paper that’s less than perfect, even the professionals don’t write perfect drafts. And that’s the part that the people that have created nano want us to know… authors, whether they’re the ones that spit out bestseller after bestseller, or the ones that are writing their very first story, are authors because they write. That’s it. Writing makes you an author. Not publishing. Not the length of what you write. Not the quality. It’s the fact that you’re writing.
So, what does nano mean to me? It’s the time of year that I get to celebrate the fact that a world full of authors are writing… just like me. And when I find out that someone is participating in nano, I always do my best to let them know what an awesome AUTHOR they are.
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