The Joy of Participation

As a participant from the Northern Hemisphere, I have to admit to not only never accepting the National Novel Writing Month challenge (NaNoWriMo for short, or NaNo for a shorter short), but also never wanting to.

November is a time of holidays and decorating and eating and taking walks with your sweetie in the brisk weather. Why dedicate yourself to 1667 words a day during such a fabulous month? So I gave up the idea of a writing challenge, but then two things happened.

Number one, a few members from my writing group (Will Write for Wine) were getting ready to SocNoc and they offered the invitation for us to come and play, too. With such a friendly and gracious invitation, how could I say no?

Number two, and possibly the more important event, was a small realization I had on my way to June 1st. When thinking about my goals for SocNoc, I realized that I didn’t have to write 50,000 words this month. I know some would say this totally goes against SocNoc (or NaNo or any other similar challenges), but I say it doesn’t.

Once I realized I was released of the daunting task of writing almost 7 pages a day for 30 days, my head was free to explore what I did want out of SocNoc, what would help me most as a writer. I found I wanted the accountability of a solid writing pace, along with the support of fellow writers, of knowing that others were going through the same march I was. Did I want to finish the book I was already 40,000 words into? Absolutely. Did it have to be in June? Not if it didn’t work for me.

So now with less than one week to go, I can see that I’m not going to reach the word count goal I set for myself, but I’ve achieved something better. I tried. I pulled on my boots and I got on the horse. By participating in SocNoc I’ve learned a lot about myself as a writer, things I thought I knew, but didn’t. I’ve also gained a support system that’s going to last me long past June 30th and those people are going to help me more than crunching out 50,000 words ever would have.

So for those of you who have felt apprehensive or depressed or icky about participating in a writer’s challenge because the goal seemed too daunting, I say set a new goal. I stand here as living proof that the Challenge Police don’t come to your door and make you finish those last 31,667 words you promised you’d write. The next time SocNoc or NaNo comes around, take a deep breath and ask yourself what you want out of it. Then do it.

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The Joy of Participation

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