I Shouldn't Have Won NaNoWriMo

I did it! I won NaNoWriMo! Woot! NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a writing challenge where you aim to write 50,000 words during the month of November. If you succeed, you ”win” and are gifted with coupon codes for wonderful writerly stuff. It’s not a competition against other writers, just a challenge for yourself. For the many people who don’t hit 50,000 words, the event is still worthwhile for the camaraderie of community, the establishment of a daily writing habit, and any bit of progress on a novel.

My first Nano was three years ago. I had just started seriously writing a couple months before and had a completed novella. That Nano was a win and my first work over 50k. I had many challenges in my life at the time. You can read the story here. I shouldn’t have won, but I did. The following year, I only hit 20k. Took many months to hit 50k and the piece was a structural mess, so it’s still sitting. Last year I started a couple weeks early, but was able to reach 50k on that project by the end of November. So, I cheated, but I hit 50k.

This year, I signed up to do a team challenge with #revpit. Revpit editors each led a team of writers and aimed to get the highest average word count. My team was great. Encouraging. We sprinted together (wrote as many words as we could in a set amount of time). We gave advice. We bounced ideas. There was a point in the middle where I was behind in word count. Some of them were ahead. I felt awful that I was the weak link. I wanted to quit. But I didn’t want to let them down either. I pressed on. I finished.

I shouldn’t have won Nano. My daughter was three months old at the time. She wasn’t sleeping well. She liked to be held. I spent many nights holding my daughter on my lap and typing with one hand to get word count in. Typing one handed is such a slow process! I learned shortcuts. My writing program autocorrected things, which meant less keystrokes. That helped a lot.

Another obstacle was an adjusted writing schedule. I usually get the most words in at work during my lunch break and planning period (probably because I could write with both hands, haha). But of course, we had days off for election day, for Veterans Day, snow days, a week off for Thanksgiving. Ack! I can’t write as much when I’m at home wrangling three kids!!

Some of my teammates hit 50k words after only two weeks. I was behind. I had nearly 11,000 words to write with only three days left. By the end of the second to last day, my fingertips hurt from typing so much. I persevered. I hit 50k with just a little over an hour to spare on the last day.

Some of my teammates were wiz writers and hit 80k or more. I feel I was just as successful because of what I had overcome. It’s amazing what is possible if you put your mind to it, if you don’t give up.

What obstacles do you have to overcome to accomplish the projects you’re working on? Maybe you can get creative to find a way around it. Maybe you have to type one-handed for a little while to make some progress. Maybe you’ll have sore fingertips from pushing through. Just don’t give up!

And by the way, my team came in 3rd place. 'Cause we're awesome.