by Lisa Jordan, @lisajordan
In 2004, an online friend introduced me to NaNoWriMo and suggested I try it.
Seriously?
Who created a 30-day writing challenge at the beginning of a busy holiday season?
As it turns out, Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, is a pretty smart guy. After all, if a person can write 1667 words daily during the month of November while balancing life, work, family, AND the upcoming holidays, then learning to write with a deadline should be a piece of cake. Right?
Deciding to accept my friend’s challenge, I told my husband what I was about to do. I planned out a dinner menu. I hogged the family computer, writing after our boys were in bed. I wrote on weekends. I kept a spreadsheet of my word count. If I fell behind on one day, I made it up the next. I wrote, and I wrote.
At 11:56 p.m. on November 30, 2004, I uploaded my 50,000 words to the NaNoWriMo site for verification and hit submit. Then I buried my face in my arms and wept.
I wrote a book. A book. Not a few chapters. Not a couple of scenes. But an entire book!
A month later, Hubby bought me a laptop and said, “I guess you’re serious about this writing thing, after all.”
That, my friends, was the beginning of my real writing career. In 2005, I joined American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and met some of my closest writing friends.
With NaNoWriMo beginning tomorrow, I remember that first NaNo experience with fondness. And, I learned a few valuable lessons from that experience:
- Write. A writer is a person who writes. I wrote. Although talking about writing is way more time at times, our books won’t get written unless we put our fingers to the keyboard or the pen to the paper.
- Plan. I am not a seat-of-the-pants writer. Like everything else in my life, I need a plan. (Thank you, My Brilliant Writing Planner!) I dislike staring at the screen wondering what was going to happen next in my story, so when I know my characters and their goals, I can create scenes to move them through the story and complete their journeys.
- Fastdraft. The first draft is supposed to stink. After all, you’re getting to know your characters and their stories. And you know what—there’s wonderful freedom in writing the fastdraft. Rachel Hauck says, “Turn off your inner critic, but listen to your inner editor.” What she means is stop listening to that voice in your head that says your story stinks…muzzle it. Instead, listen to the voice that may be steering you away from the rabbit trail your character wants to take, etc. Besides, unless you’re writing young adult, a novella, or category romance, 50,000 words is not long enough for a novel. However, your first draft puts the bones of your story in place. You can add the layers and beautiful writing during the rewrites.
- Celebrate. Hooray!! You. Wrote. A. Book. You did what most people talk about doing. Celebrate that accomplishment. Do something fun with your family or friends, especially if they helped free up chunks of time in your day so you could write. Celebrating milestones keeps us encouraged to continue to move forward.
- Breathe. Now that your 50,000 words are safely stored on your computer and backed up, take a step away from your story. Give your brain time to decompress so you can look at your story again with fresh eyes.
- Polish. Consider kicking off the New Year with the goal of polishing your story. Take time to review your story chapter by chapter. Reassess your characters—did you complete their story GMCs? Now you can go through each scene and make sure you’ve built in the additional layers—storyworld, emotions, sensory elements, character sympathy, tension, etc. These components are essential to add dimension to your scenes.
- Repeat. Once you’ve completed your story and polished it to the best of your ability, repeat the entire process with a new idea. You do not need to wait until November to fastdraft a new novel. Gather a group of friends and do your own version to challenge yourself to write something new. I see many writers who dwell on the same story over and over, tweaking and fixing. When they attend conferences to meet with editors and agents, they have nothing else to show for their labors.
That first NaNoWriMo story had the privilege of being my first rejected novel. Yeah, that stung, but I learned from it—the story wasn’t ready. As I continued to grow as a writer, I applied my craft, and now that NaNo novel became Lakeside Romance, my fifth published novel with Love Inspired that released in August 2016. So, are you up for the challenge? Let’s get writing!
His dreams can all come true…but only if his ex-wife will agree!
Jake Holland’s peaceful dairy farm is a sanctuary—one he wants to share with other worn and weary veterans. He just needs one more piece of land to start his program…and it belongs to Tori Lerner, his ex-wife. A collaboration could benefit them both, but with a past full of secrets between them, is there any hope for renewed love?
Heart, home, and faith have always been important to Lisa Jordan, so writing stories with those elements come naturally. Represented by Rachelle Gardner of Books & Such Literary Management, Lisa is an award-winning author for Love Inspired, writing contemporary Christian romances that promise hope and happily ever after. Her latest book, Season of Hope, released in March 2019. She is the Operations Manager for Novel.Academy, powered by My Book Therapy. Happily married to her own real-life hero for thirty years, Lisa and her husband have two grown sons. When she isn’t writing, Lisa enjoys family time, kayaking, good books, and being creative. Visit her at lisajordanbooks.com.