As an alternative to NaNoWriMo, I've been doing my own writing challenge here in October. My goal is a little more modest; I hope to write a minimum of 1000 words per day in October to give my new project a jump start. I'm writing my first project set in Canada. Most of my other books are set in Seattle and Portland instead of where I live in Vancouver.
I love this. That's the beauty of DIY: you set the rules for your own challenge. Though of course, I feel like anyone participating in a formal challenge should feel free to tweak aspects that don't work for them, too. Happy writing!
I was a hardcore Nano-er in the early oughts and still love the feeling of building momentum. (I have a superstition though; I’ve never returned to a project where I made 50k in 30 days during Nanowrimo. But I’ve always returned to projects where I didn’t make the goal.)
I’ve been quietly building my own alternate end-of-year challenge: I realized recently that my rewrite is so vastly different from my past drafts that I just need to treat it as a first draft and get it down rough, so that’s my goal for the rest of the year, across three months instead of one with 1k as an average goal. If I have a bad day, I go down to 400 words. If I have a good day I go up to the traditional Nano number of 1667.
I’m sad to see how the organization crashed and burned over the past few years because it was formative to my early writing habits and I learned how great it is to have a daily goal to meet and then walk away from. There’s nothing like hitting 1667 and then walking away for the day completely at peace because you showed up for yourself and your story — it’s a permission slip to be present instead of feeling frustrated you didn’t write more!
That's so interesting about your return rate after not hitting the 50k versus when you hit it. I wonder if it was the speed at which you wrote or if it was just coincidence. But your new self-challenge sounds excellent. Wishing you many good writing days.
I feel the spirit of NaNoWriMo is already too widespread for this to destroy it completely. The fact that there are multiple alternatives already doesn't surprise me at all. I would find it peculiar if there were none.
I am curious in which direction the idea of NaNoWriMo will now develop.
And I like your idea of that end-of-year challenge.
I've been doing my own writing challenges based on meeting writing goals big or small and reading books about writing. Participating in reading challenges helps me read more and learn from reading 📚
I completed it three times, on time. My fourth wasn't completed on time, but I did hack at it for a few months past the deadline, and did some more revising until I had something I liked much more than the third (which I also ended up cannibalizing for #4). All in all it was a good exercise in discipline. I loved the basic idea of "just get the words into the document; they don't have to be good. That comes with further drafts."
I loved NaNo as a way for people to get a jumpstart with all those resources and the cheerleading available to keep them going, and I think there was as much to be gained by just doing it and seeing where it took you as when someone really pushed to hit the finish line. And yes for the getting-the-words-down mentality. That can be a challenge all unto itself.
I have tried participating in NaNoWriMo a few times, and managed to succeed one time. I agree that this is a challenge that's really worth doing at least once - not to try and make it into your new writing routine, far from it, but just to check it out. Push your own limits. See how it feels afterward.
I am glad to see new options coming up instead of the original NaNoWriMo. I did like the challenge and the community, and I have felt inspired by it, even if I didn't always actively aim for the 50k words in a month.
Thanks for listing the alternatives, I will definitely check them out. I think for me, aiming for 8-10k words this November feels reasonable enough. Are you doing it this year?
I plan to at least try one of the alternates this year, but things have been particularly hectic and I am going to give myself a lot of grace as I focus on work catch-up and some family stuff as well.
I find it hilarious when my brain sometimes thinks about goals for the month and is like "10k would be nice, maybe 15k"... and then I look into a calendar and go like "brain, you silly duck, first weekend is this, second weekend is that, mid third weeek we gotta be there... How about we aim for 2k this time?"
Like a little bitch slap from reality, but it feels better to give yourself that ahead of time rather than just look back and be disappointed with the lack of progress.
Out of curiosity, which alternative are you mostly considering?
I haven't gotten to that point yet. I suspect I'll figure it out a day or two from the end of October or maybe just wake up on November 1st and pick. Juggling a lot at the moment.
As an alternative to NaNoWriMo, I've been doing my own writing challenge here in October. My goal is a little more modest; I hope to write a minimum of 1000 words per day in October to give my new project a jump start. I'm writing my first project set in Canada. Most of my other books are set in Seattle and Portland instead of where I live in Vancouver.
I love this. That's the beauty of DIY: you set the rules for your own challenge. Though of course, I feel like anyone participating in a formal challenge should feel free to tweak aspects that don't work for them, too. Happy writing!
I think in comparison to the NaNoWriMo insanity, every reasonable and sustainable writing goal feels modest.
1000 words per day is a lot!
I was a hardcore Nano-er in the early oughts and still love the feeling of building momentum. (I have a superstition though; I’ve never returned to a project where I made 50k in 30 days during Nanowrimo. But I’ve always returned to projects where I didn’t make the goal.)
I’ve been quietly building my own alternate end-of-year challenge: I realized recently that my rewrite is so vastly different from my past drafts that I just need to treat it as a first draft and get it down rough, so that’s my goal for the rest of the year, across three months instead of one with 1k as an average goal. If I have a bad day, I go down to 400 words. If I have a good day I go up to the traditional Nano number of 1667.
I’m sad to see how the organization crashed and burned over the past few years because it was formative to my early writing habits and I learned how great it is to have a daily goal to meet and then walk away from. There’s nothing like hitting 1667 and then walking away for the day completely at peace because you showed up for yourself and your story — it’s a permission slip to be present instead of feeling frustrated you didn’t write more!
Anyway. The vibes live on as you said.
That's so interesting about your return rate after not hitting the 50k versus when you hit it. I wonder if it was the speed at which you wrote or if it was just coincidence. But your new self-challenge sounds excellent. Wishing you many good writing days.
I feel the spirit of NaNoWriMo is already too widespread for this to destroy it completely. The fact that there are multiple alternatives already doesn't surprise me at all. I would find it peculiar if there were none.
I am curious in which direction the idea of NaNoWriMo will now develop.
And I like your idea of that end-of-year challenge.
I've been doing my own writing challenges based on meeting writing goals big or small and reading books about writing. Participating in reading challenges helps me read more and learn from reading 📚
I love that you're including reading challenges as part of your writing challenge!
I completed it three times, on time. My fourth wasn't completed on time, but I did hack at it for a few months past the deadline, and did some more revising until I had something I liked much more than the third (which I also ended up cannibalizing for #4). All in all it was a good exercise in discipline. I loved the basic idea of "just get the words into the document; they don't have to be good. That comes with further drafts."
I loved NaNo as a way for people to get a jumpstart with all those resources and the cheerleading available to keep them going, and I think there was as much to be gained by just doing it and seeing where it took you as when someone really pushed to hit the finish line. And yes for the getting-the-words-down mentality. That can be a challenge all unto itself.
I have tried participating in NaNoWriMo a few times, and managed to succeed one time. I agree that this is a challenge that's really worth doing at least once - not to try and make it into your new writing routine, far from it, but just to check it out. Push your own limits. See how it feels afterward.
I am glad to see new options coming up instead of the original NaNoWriMo. I did like the challenge and the community, and I have felt inspired by it, even if I didn't always actively aim for the 50k words in a month.
Thanks for listing the alternatives, I will definitely check them out. I think for me, aiming for 8-10k words this November feels reasonable enough. Are you doing it this year?
I plan to at least try one of the alternates this year, but things have been particularly hectic and I am going to give myself a lot of grace as I focus on work catch-up and some family stuff as well.
I find it hilarious when my brain sometimes thinks about goals for the month and is like "10k would be nice, maybe 15k"... and then I look into a calendar and go like "brain, you silly duck, first weekend is this, second weekend is that, mid third weeek we gotta be there... How about we aim for 2k this time?"
Like a little bitch slap from reality, but it feels better to give yourself that ahead of time rather than just look back and be disappointed with the lack of progress.
Out of curiosity, which alternative are you mostly considering?
I haven't gotten to that point yet. I suspect I'll figure it out a day or two from the end of October or maybe just wake up on November 1st and pick. Juggling a lot at the moment.