On NaNoWriMo, DigiWriMo, & Write-A-Thons

Nov. 1st, 2014

I’ve been browsing online all day, jumping from blog to blog, learning about all of the different kinds of “write-a-thons” that are going on right now.

In October, as many of you may have seen, we had “Inktober” and “Blogtober,” a lovely pair of challenges where people tried to complete a drawing or a blog post every day.  It was neat to see people sharing their creativity all over Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.

And, of course, starting today, thousands of people all over the world will be participating in “National Novel Writing Month” (also referred to as "NaNoWriMo"), a challenge to churn out a 50,000 word rough draft of a novel that takes place every November.  NaNoWriMo has also started having “Writing Camps” in other months, where people can set their own goals.

Then there’s another write-every-day push that takes place every April, which is called the “A to Z Challenge.”  Writers write on different topics that are inspired by each letter of the alphabet (the participants skip every Sunday, so that they have built-in rest days and exactly 26 days to blog).  This challenge can of course be done in any month, if you need a little extra inspiration or whimsy, although I do think that knowing that you have a whole community working at the same time as you can be encouraging when your mental energy is lagging.

The marathon that I am currently considering is called “Digital Writing Month” ("DigiWriMo").  It’s a more recent version of NaNoWriMo which also takes place in November, but which seems to be a little more flexible.  Participants can choose whether social media content, like Twitter tweets and Blog posts, should also count towards their 50,000 word writing goal.  For example, one person counted the 10,000+ words in tweets and the 32,000+ words that he churned out in emails every month towards his baseline 50,000 word goal—and his overarching goal was to be more conscious about WHAT he wrote (link here).  Another person might only count scripts, or poetry (some DigiWriMo-ers try to tweet haikus!).

I also discovered “A Round of Words in 80 Days” (#ROW80).  This global challenge seems very attractive in that it encourages more of a lifestyle of writing or creating, as opposed to a short-burst marathon per se.  Participants set their own personal goals for the 80-day period (the current block is October 6^th to December 25^th).  These often pertain to writing (e.g. “I will write 250 words every morning, or for half an hour, whichever ends sooner,” or “I will publish 3 blog posts a week”), but can also include personal goals, such as researching how to put out a newsletter, or walking 4 times a week.  Then they link their blog to all of the other participants’ blogs (through a Linkytool or by using the hashtag #ROW80 in Twitter).  The participants all post updates on their goals twice-weekly on their blogs, including whether they have modified any, and they can also use the links to check on each other and offer feedback, advice, and encouragement.  This challenge also seems to be very forgiving, in that people can join a round at any time, and everyone is free to modify their goals as they test them out.

I can see the appeal of NaNoWriMo and DigiWriMo, in that they encourage you to take the plunge, to make a controlled burst of uncensored effort when you know that others around the world are also trying.  You try to jump past the fear, since you won’t actually ever have to show anyone what you’ve made, and you also know that there is a tangible endpoint in sight.  On the other hand, ROW80 gives you much more flexibility, both in terms of what kind of goals you prefer to concentrate on, as well as how you want to fit creativity and writing into your regular life on a more long-term level.

I tried NaNoWriMo for the first time last year.  My friends have been doing it for over a decade, and I always thought it was a neat idea, but the timing just seemed so terrible.  I had extra shifts at work, or I only remembered that NaNoWriMo was going on halfway through the month, or I had social obligations, etc.  Last year, I started a few days late, but I did actually try—and I “failed."  I did not reach 50,000 words, but on the other hand, I had finally stepped off of the sidelines.

It was hard.  I was not able to make myself write every day, and I watched my totals slip farther and farther behind the necessary daily minimums and the global and regional averages.   I might have made it if I’d knuckled down during the last week, but by then I had burned out. 

So I never got my “victory badge.”  But I had participated in a global effort to be creative, right?  And I’d worked on an idea I’d never actually devoted time to before, right?

I did find the experience useful, though. I learned that I didn’t have the personal tools to focus on a single idea, however fluid, for an entire month, much less for every day in that month.  And I learned that I burned out when “having to write," especially to reach an ever-rising marker.

I also really enjoyed having the tangible progress graph.  I am a person who likes and needs to see progress to stay motivated and energized.  I like to be able to tick off boxes when I have accomplished a task, and to see a growing collection of check-marks.  I actually used NaNoWriMo as my inspiration this spring, when I went on a major de-cluttering spree.  I made a graph that showed me the growing totals of bags of “stuff” that I had removed from my house—Over the course of a month, I know that I donated, recycled, or threw out over 30 bags-worth!  The graph really helped me keep things in a positive perspective—yes, I still had too many belongings squirreled away, but on the other hand, I knew that I had succeeded in making a significant dent—that I had been able to keep forging ahead and making difficult choices, that I had cleared out some much-needed physical and mental space...

So I’m sitting here in a living room with a couple of friends, all of us with our laptops on our laps and surrounded by mugs of warm tea (it's been a cold, rainy day).  They're writing and thinking about NaNoWriMo projects (both are revising/continuing previous NaNoWriMo novels), while I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I will be focusing on this month.  I have the advantage this year in that I am actually starting on November 1^st, along with everyone else!  I think that I will start out by trying to accomplish #DigiWriMo (50,000 words in various digital formats), with an eye to making some #ROW80 goals along the way.  But I may track it as a #NaNoWriMo project, so I can have my snazzy graph! (Are you following all of that?)

My Current Goals:

I have a couple story ideas knocking about my head, but none of them seem particularly well-fleshed-out.  And my blog has been languishing a bit—I had some camera difficulties, and it was hard to keep up the enthusiasm for my tutorials, photo galleries, and Etsy posts, without being able to add new pictures.  So I think that I will concentrate on updating certain areas of my photo galleries, and as my main writing/creative goals, I will attempt to:

 

1. Stock up on blog entries for November and December. 

2. I really enjoy having sketches as the headers of each post, so I plan to make some more of these. 

3. I have been playing around with a couple vlog script ideas that I would like to flesh out more and actually try shooting. 

 

But to quote Lily from the movie “Eagle vs. Shark,” “that could change.”

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo or DigiWriMo?  How detailed are your goals?  Are they more concerned with writing, or with publishing, or with trying something new?  Let me know!