Should You NaNoWriMo?

Crystal Crawford
Oct 25, 2017
2 min read

Updated: Sep 26, 2020

NaNoWriMo… National Novel Writing Month.

Sounds fun, right?

It can be. It can also be stressful, overwhelming, and way more than you may have bargained for.

So how do you know if NaNoWriMo is right for you?

Here are some things to consider before committing to the crunch of 50,000 words in November.

NaNoWriMo might be perfect for you if:

1. You work well under pressure

30 days. 50,000 words. That’s 1,667 words each day. Every. Single. Day. And any day you miss means double writing the next day, or triple if you skip 2 days… or quadruple if you skip 3… You get the point.

2. You want to be part of a “thing”

NaNoWriMo is a really cool event. You can connect with other writers, all frantically writing toward the same goal as you, in the same short time period. You can do write-ins and gather with local NaNoWriMo-ers, and then all introvert into your laptops to write, because let’s face it, with 50,000 words to write this month, who has time for talking? Not me! Still, it’s cool to have the support and to know that you’re a part of something bigger.

3. You need an extra push to reach your goals

This was my reason for doing NaNoWriMo in 2016. I’d been wanting to write a particular book, but kept putting it off, and I knew NaNoWriMo would give me a structure and the extra accountability to get it done. It worked… sort of. I did reach my word count goal, and I probably would have taken far longer than a month to do that had I not participated in NaNoWriMo.

4. You like torturing yourself

Stress? Deadlines? Who doesn’t love ’em, right? While you’re at it, if you really want to up the game, throw in the Write-or-Die app. Go ahead, you know you want to.

5. You were going to write a novel anyway but you want a badge and certificate for it

Like, seriously… if you were going to do it anyway, do it in November where you can get some sort of acknowledgment for it. You can even buy t-shirts! Win-win.