For the first time ever, I have won the NaNoWriMo. Â By focusing on word counts over content, I was able to bang out over 50,000 words in 30 days…
… and I feel dirty.
In my time on this Earth I have written a number of things of which I am ashamed, but after the first fifteen thousand or so words this year’s WriMo project turned into the worst piece of shit I have ever created. Â I will set it aside and sometime in January I might review it, and in all likelihood I’ll delete over 35,000 of those words and pretend they never existed. Â And that’s if I can ever bring myself to review it, which I may not, because it really is a piece of shit.
Next year, I think I’ll go back to focusing on content and return to my previous years of losing with style. Â I’ve never felt so poorly about winning in my entire life.
I think what you should focus on is that you put idea to paper, and it was your first time doing it this way. The first time you do ANYTHING, it’s doomed to suck. Take the experience and learn something from it and then bathe your dirty ass in your new found knowledge.
If you choose not to go back and review it, start in January with an idea, develop characters, build an outline… work the (writing) process for 10 months, and then put foot to ass to bang out the 50k words that your 10 months of process supports over the 30 days of the event and you might just find yourself the proud author of a good book.
I did learn something from it. Quantity over quality is not a trade I’m willing to make. I like the idea of NaNoWriMo, which is why I’ve participated the last five years, but the execution of 50,000 words in 30 days is poor. I learned that in future years I will ignore the deadline, move at my own pace, the pace set by the flow of the work itself, and if I make 50k in 30 days it is a bonus. I win by writing, not by “winning”.
I won’t be spending 10 months planning for 30 days of writing when I could be spending 10 months planning and writing.