Lessons from NaNoWriMo

This is the second of three posts from Angela White, blogger, mother, marathon writer (NaNoWriMo) and marathon runner. Number one in this series was posted on 11/18/13.

Angela White in new racing clothes

Lessons from NaNoWriMo

November 6, 2013 by fitfunmom

National Novel Writing Month Word Count as of midday, day 6: 10,584 words. I’m on track, people! I sat in front of the fireplace today and wrote for three hours. Every day I think I’ll take less time or write more words overall than the day before, but that’s pretty much how long it takes me every single day to crank out the necessary 1,667 words.

Having completed one-fifth of the National Novel Writing Month challenge of writing 50,000 words, I feel pre-eminently qualified (ha!) to write about what NaNoWriMo has taught me so far.

1. With writing just as with exercise, it’s a lot more fun to knock it out in the morning than to put it off until the end of the day. Mind you, that’s not saying it’s any easier to do the work then, just that it’s less pressure and more rewarding to complete it early in the day.

2. The words that flow the fastest are the ones that come from your own experience. You always hear the advice to “write what you know” and now I know why. I simply have to trust that I have a unique experience and a unique perspective to offer.

3. While I’m on the topic of inspirational advice, let’s go with “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” True for the beginning runner, true for the beginning writer. Do not fear the blank page.

4. You know those photos that circulate every once in a while — the ones that show what you think you look like when you run (a graceful Olympian) and what you really look like when you run (a flailing maniac)? That’s how I feel as I’m writing. I feel like a poser, wannabe writer who is sure to be found out as the flailing maniac she really is. But then I remind myself of lesson #3 above. Repeat to self: “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Everyone has to start somewhere. I wouldn’t fault a beginning runner for not having perfect form at the start of her running journey. Why would I expect to be able to write perfect prose right out of the gate?

5. As a writer it’s hard to “show and not tell.” I tend toward very concise writing and speech, and my first instinct is to say, for example: “She worried what would come next” instead of “She hunched her shoulders and furrowed her brow in nervous anticipation.” When I worked as a lawyer, one seasoned paralegal offered me some advice on how to explain legal concepts to a client: “Write like you’re explaining the law to your grandmother.” I need to write for my grandmother. Set the scene. Describe the smells. Paint the characters. Don’t assume the reader sees any of what you see in your head.

6. Find your motivation. I know why I’m doing this, this mammoth marathon writing project. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at writing a novel and now is as good a time as any to do it. But that’s the big picture motivation. I find that the little picture motivation, for me, is the ability to log my word count for the day and see that blue progress line turn green when I’ve hit 1,667 for the day. It shouldn’t surprise me. After all, I log every mile that I swim, bike or run. Of course I take pleasure in logging every word written!

Running Marathons and Writing Marathons

JENNIFER ROVA

It is with pleasure that WNI shares the posts of guest blogger Angela White from southern California. She earned an undergraduate degree in literature, a law degree, is a marathoner, triathlete and the writer of two blogs. Her first blog on breast feeding ran for several years and her current blog, fitfunmom.com, is about her training, nutrition and participation in marathons and triathlons. She is also the car-bound mother of my three wonderful, active granddaughters. Yes, she is my daughter and I am busting-my-buttons proud of her for all she does so well. I have always admired her and her skill at writing (far better than mine). In late October, she announced that she was going to participate in NaNoWriMo by writing a 50,000 word novel in one month (November), in addition to training for a 5K race and another marathon (26.2 miles), volunteering at school, driving children on different schedules to school and to numerous extracurricular activities, reading fifty books in twelve months, and participating in children+parent and 'tweens+parent book clubs...a schedule that would make me blanch.  Below is the first of three posts of analogies between marathons and writing from Angela's blog, fitfunmom.com

A Different Kind of Marathon

October 29, 2013 by fitfunmom

I do love to talk running (and racing and biking and swimming and spinning and kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding and now Jillian Michaels DVD’ing), but in this down time after my third full marathon, I have another kind of marathon in mind: a writing marathon!

Yes, I plan to spend the month of November attempting to write 50,000 words of a novel. I have always wanted to write a novel. Well, to be perfectly honest, I have always wanted to have written a novel. The actual writing work scares the heck out of me. But while the daunting task of writing an average of 1,667 words per day intimidates me, I will not let that stop me.

Thankfully, marathon training has taught me a lot that can be applied to writing a novel:

1. Setting concrete, measurable goals along the way to your main goal can keep you motivated.

2. If you want to grow as a person, do one thing a day that scares you. It’s okay. You might make mistakes, but you’ll learn along the way.

3. There is nothing more satisfying than completing an intimidating task.

4. You must put in the time and effort if you want to see results.

5. The goal for your first (writing) marathon is simply to finish. You cannot expect to “knock it out of the park” on the first try. [Do you see what a stellar writer I am, that I can so ridiculously mix running, writing and baseball metaphors? I consider it part of my freewriting training -- just write, just put words on paper, and save the editing and fine tuning for later!]

Now, you might recall that, in spite of being a very logical lawyer, I still delight in seeing “signs” and good omens before a big race. Right after I wrote that list above, I looked up to see this:

While I don’t really believe it rained in Southern California and then had the sun come out at just the right time for me to see a sign, I do think that seeing that rainbow made a nice little reward for my taking the time to write about my big goal while my daughter played happily at the park.

Have you ever participated in National Novel Writing Month?(I’ve survived a few rounds of National Blog Posting Month but never attempted NaNoWriMo.) What kinds of challenges do you like to take on in the down time for your training?