Guest Post: NaNoWriMo Was an Unexpected Success for Me

Today, I'm featuring an article by  Raum from My Reading Lounge. 

I'm delighted to host an article by her; she was the one who convinced me to write my very first article back when I had just started out as a writer. She also hosted a stop on my blog tour for my novel Ghostwriter.

NaNoWriMo Was an Unexpected Success for Me

At the end of October, many people around the Fandom began to talk about the NaNoWriMo. I'd heard about this initiative, but my first thought was: “It's impossible.”

Some of my friends decided to try it, while others told me that they didn't want to have a “word count” goal, let alone on a daily basis. Considering that English isn't my native language (I'm 100% Italian), and I'm a mom, a wife and a teacher with a full time job, my position about the NaNoWriMo at the end of October was: “It's impossible for me.”

I ended up registering among the thousands of people all over the world just to be able to say “I was there.” I set a personal goal – 10,000 words.

And then, November arrived.

30 days later, I'm the proud owner of a certificate that says that I achieved those “it's-impossible-for-me” 50,000 words. Over 51,000!

What happened? 

1) I've spent every little bit of my spare time writing, writing, writing. It's amazing to notice how many moments you can get during an average day. Even when you can't stay at your computer typing at full speed, you can always *think.* I imagined dialogues in my head while I was going to work. I envisioned my characters while I was doing the chores...

2) My family encouraged me. My hubs understood that this was a passion for me, and he helped me a lot (cheering is fundamental!).

3) I found an extraordinary supporter: my friend Camilla has read all I've written this month, giving me feedback and suggestions about the plot, the characters, and the way the story was unfolding. Knowing that she was waiting for a new chapter to see how the story would progress has been a great encouragement for me. Thanks to her wonderful help, I avoided writing just for the sake of the word count. I've kept writing to tell a story – hopefully, a story that works!

4) Writing buddies help! Project Team Beta has organized 30 WCs (I've had the honor to host some of them). The opportunity to meet so many people doing the same experience, to talk about the stories we were working on, and to share some bits of our writing has been really fun!'

Are there any cons?

The main problem, at the end of this month, is the stress. Right now, I feel like I need a break – some days without thinking about the characters, their problems, the outline, and so on... the NaNoWriMo isn't something you can do every month, but for sure it's an experience you should try (at least) once in a lifetime.

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 Raum's fanfiction stories can be found here.  Her website, My Reading Lounge, has very helpful articles and tips in the Writing Lab, as well as reviews of books and fanfiction.