I AM ACTUALLY PARTICIPATING IN NANOWRIMO THIS YEAR!
So, the first year that I started taking my original writing seriously enough to participate in NaNoWriMo was the far off time of 2010.
I was in my last year of my GCSEs and I had spent a week earlier in the year on work experience. Of course, the place I was at was super busy and they didn’t trust some teenager to do things right, so all of the work that was supposed to be left for me had been already finished.
So I took in a notebook and I wrote out the first ever Snowverse novel by hand.
(Well, the first time it was ever novelised – these stories originally saw the light of day in a weird almost comic-like format…)
I did actually finish that book, but it was a novella in the end, not a novel.
And then I heard of NaNoWriMo.
The problem was that, in the UK, we have exams in January. And November is right around the time I had to start ramping up revision if I wanted those A*s.
So, I didn’t participate while I had my GCSEs.
And I didn’t participate when I had my A-Levels.
The first year of uni, however, back in 2013, I did participate.
And I wrote 10,000 words of a story that I legitimately don’t remember before I got a job and sacked it off.
Then in second year, my anxiety disorder got all fucked up and I didn’t participate.
Third year was spent recovering from second year.
And now, having graduated, I find myself looking at NaNo and thinking “What’s the point?”
Because during second year, once I had calmed down (long after November had come and gone), I actually got around to writing a novel.
It was another Snowverse title.
After all, my beta readers had liked the first one, but I wasn’t willing to expand on it. I felt like I spent too much time looping back. Those original stories had spanned generations, and there was too much lore bogging the book down.
So, I went backwards, to before all of the lore had been written.
I wrote the first Freya Snow book.
I also started listening to I Should Be Writing at work, and then The Creative Penn, and then the Self-Publishing Podcast…
By the start of my third year of uni, I had two Freya Snow books written, and a third well on the way.
In September, I published the first, deciding to publish one at the start of every term during third year, so that I wasn’t distracted from my dissertation.
The boredom soon got to me, of course, and I still regret not just publishing all three at once.
Oh well.
Cut to this summer just gone, and I spent the whole time still anxious from third year. So, I set myself a challenge. Try to write as many books as possible.
I wrote seven and a half books by the time October rolled around and I started my Master’s.
So, why participate in NaNo when I know that I can write a book in ten days if the mood strikes?
Well, I took October off while I got used to being at uni again.
I figure NaNo is a good way to get me back into writing again.
That half-written book (Freya Snow 8) still isn’t finished, and I don’t want to start on Freya Snow 9 until it is, but I still wanted to write a whole new book for NaNo.
I have two spin-off Snowverse projects that I plan to release this year (in September and October), The Almosts and The Royal Cleaner.
So, this month I’m going to write The Almosts, a magical heist story with an aro, autistic protagonist.
Think Breaking Bad meets GTA but with magic and they’re all women.
I’ve got to say, I’m actually pretty damn excited about tackling a different project.
So add me if you want to. My username is Gohoke, and I am hoping to actually finish this year.
Good luck to everyone else participating!