NaNoWriMo Day 1 P.O.E. (Poem of Encouragement)

So it’s Day #1 of NaNoWriMo. To everyone marching headlong into the fray armed with outlines, character profiles, story arcs, scribbled-on Post-Its, and giant vats of coffee and/or 5-Hour Energy, I salute you. I’ll be posting some very silly NaNo P.O.E.s (Poems of Encouragement) here on the blog throughout the month to cheer you on. I’ve never done NaNo myself but I think it’s an awesome idea, and I know many people who find it a terrific motivator and a good way to break out of that “CANNOT MAKE PROGRESS. EACH WORD MUST BE PERFECT” mindset that trips up lots of writers (me included).

I have to say, I’ve been seeing some negativity about NaNoWriMo online over the past couple days, and it’s made me mad on behalf of everyone brave enough to try it out. Seriously: DO NOT LISTEN to it. I mean, no one I know is starting NaNo under the assumption that come November 30, they’ll have a flawless manuscript all finished and polished and ready for the National Book Award. But I don’t believe that 99.9% of what you write this month is going to be dumpster-worthy, or that NaNo is a fruitless exercise for wannabes. Like anything else, it’s going to work great for some people, and not so much for others. To find out which camp you fall into, you at least have to try.

If you’re excited about NaNo, stay up on that cloud. Don’t listen to people on the sidelines taking potshots in the name of “realistic expectations.” Every single published author started out the same way, with a half-formed idea and some scribbled-on scraps. And none of them would be published if they listened to the voices saying look, you’re probably not that talented or that special, and someone somewhere has already thought of some version this story and written it better, so don’t even bother. Writing is NOT a rarified vocation extended to only an elite few—and with ebooks on the rise, neither is publishing.

Your NaNo project may or may not evolve into a published novel someday, but I absolutely believe it’s worth the effort. Maybe that sounds like sweet talk, but so what? It’ll take a lot of work to get to the finish line, and you have to sweet-talk yourself a little or you’ll never finish. When I was writing my book (and the four other novels I finished and bottom-drawered before this one), the only thing that got me through the rough patches was drugging myself with romanticized visions of a beautiful book cover and a real live Amazon page and a great review I’d want to frame. As someone who’s naturally inclined to think the worst, I can testify that you get a LOT more done when you force yourself to believe the best.

Even if it seems like a lie. Even if people tell you you’re nuts.

STAY ON THE CLOUD.

And don’t overdo the 5-Hour Energy, or you might end up like Jessie Spano.