How I’m Tackling NaNoWriMo as a Rebel

My alternative project for 2023

Photo by Luke Lung on Unsplash

I read a Twitter post a few years ago that said “Happy NaNoWriMo Eve *looks up* and I guess Halloween”.

While I could no sooner forget Halloween than chop my arm off (my family are a bunch of Halloween nuts), it conveys the truth that NaNoWriMo is often a big event in the writer’s life.

I love the 50,000-word goal. My problem is always that I’m primarily a non-fiction writer, sometimes a poet who occasionally messes around with fiction for fun.

Writing a 50,000-word piece of fiction is not my jam. So, every year, I come up with an alternative project that honors the genres I do write in.

My Five Writerly Goals for November

The way I see it, NaNoWriMo has three overarching objectives: to provide accountability, to stretch our writing comfort zones, and to create a habit. I considered each one while crafting a game plan.

Goal #1: Shortform

Consistently craft a short form a day. All 30 days. With shortform, the writer must be terribly concise as there is no room for extra words. Plus, I still have to generate 30 ideas.

# of words: 4,500

Goal #2: The Challenged