With several writing projects underway, why am I still drawn to “fast writing” programs?
For some reason, I am fascinated with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and fast writing in general. I find myself browsing the blogs of people who have done it, both successfully and unsuccessfully. The programs intrigue me. Entice me. Could I do it? Would I succeed or fall flat on my face? And what about my other life responsibilities?
Part of me says no way, I don’t have the stamina. A part of me wants the challenge.
Several years ago, I signed up for “Survivor Writers,” a Yahoo Group where, you guessed it, writers got kicked off every week. Not for strategic purposes, but if we didn’t meet the stated writing goal of 7 pages per week. (Mine was actually a “mini” group - the real “Survivor Writers” had to do 15 pages a week.) It wasn’t much, and I had to know where my story was going to get it done, but it served its purpose. After about four weeks, I had finished the rough draft of my middle grade novel.
The Survivor Writers group no longer exists (or if it does, it’s hiding from me - someone please let me know!), but I found NaNoWriMo, Book in a Week, and a team project in Australia. There’s even a MAD Challenge with the absolutely crazy writing goal of 10,000 words in five hours! You can read more about them in Fast Writing, or check out National Novel Writing Month by Victoria Anisman-Reiner, who actually did it last year and the year before.
Unfortunately, I don’t think this is the time for me to tackle either NaNoWriMo in November or Book in a Week in any month. I’m doing a final edit on my chapter book, and then I’ll be tackling a major re-write of my time travel novel before I send it out again. And fast writing programs are meant for new writing, not editing. But in the meantime, I’m still fascinated with the idea. You may hear from me about it next year!
