When I was first asked to make a guest blog post about NaNoWriMo, I was probably not in the best position to do so. I had fallen out of love with my plot and while I was still pretty sure how the story was supposed to end, I had no idea how to even begin this novel. I was frustrated and worried that November 1st would roll around and I would be unable to find the words to even begin the story. And so, I confess that I was thinking of throwing in the towel.
What kept me from backing out of NaNoWriMo, however, were my writing buddies who refused to let me walk away before I’d even started.
I was asked to talk about why I think NaNoWriMo is beneficial to writers. There is certainly a good deal that I can say in regards to this. I could tell you that NaNoWriMo is for ALL writers, from hobbyist to professional to everyone in between. I could talk about how for one month out of the year, we are given the permission to focus, heart and soul, on one of the stories in our head. I could talk about how those who work best under pressure are given a deadline: you have 30 days to write 50,000 words. I could talk about this in the terms of NaNoWriMo being a celebration of the art of the written word. And all of these, in my eyes and in my heart, would be absolutely true.
But I truly feel one of the best aspects of NaNoWriMo is the community. I have writing buddies I can meet with in one of my favorite coffee shops and we can write together. I have writing buddies I can text or instant message to bounce ideas off of. And I have buddies who, upon hearing that I was thinking of walking away in what will be my 7th year of participating, informed me that this was not an option and that we were going to get through this together, no matter what. There are forums filled with people planning write-ins, people looking for the real-life experiences of others to draw inspiration from, and people who are struggling to close holes in their plots and seek the help of others to do so.
The point of NaNoWriMo is for each writer participating to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. But the beauty of NaNoWriMo is that none of us have to do it alone.
Kelsey is a physician assistant and writes whenever she has the opportunity to do so. She lives with her husband and their black polydactyl cat.
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