The Barenaked Critic

Author bio:

I was a senior in college when I landed in the Writing the Novel class, one of the last required classes for a major in professional writing. The first week, we learned what would be expected of us: we'd have to write 50,000 words (200 pages) in 3 months. That was our grade.

Writing has never been as hard for me as it was that fall. Nothing seemed to come out right. Writing each page felt as though I were wringing blood from a stone. When I finally finished, I swore that I would never put myself under that kind of pressure again.

Fast forward one year. It's late October 2006, and I was talking to my friend Chelsie online. She said that she was doing National Novel Writing Month. I'd heard of it, but 50,000 words in 30 days sounded like madness. And Chelsie wanted me to do it with her.

Considering I lived in a tiny town and all my friends had moved away, I had little else to do but work. A full novel in 30 days sounded like a tall order, but what the hey? I signed up for NaNoWriMo two days before the contest started, with only a vague clue about what I'd write.

The first few days of writing were particular torture. Getting started felt agonizing, and I just couldn't get more than a few hundred words on the page. Frustrated, I packed up my computer and drove 30 minutes to the nearest bookstore. I parked myself in the cafe, ordered some hot tea, and turned on my music. My goal? To hit 12,500 words before I went home.

By the time I finished for the day, I'd hit 14,196. I wrote for four hours straight that evening, stopping only because the store was 30 minutes from closing and I had to drive back home. To say that I was a little ecstatic is the understatement of the century. I was writing again. And for the first time in a long time, I was thrilled about it.

So here I am, starting yet another year of NaNoWriMo. It feels weird, now, to skip the craziness of trying to knock out 50,000 words in one month. It may drive me madder than Captain Ahab, but I always enjoy the ride.

Good luck to everybody, and happy writing.