50k in November, You Bet.
Let the writing begin!
November has long been heralded as the month to press the margins of word counts, launch the effort behind the idea, and put a deadline on writers to get their books out the door. If I've learned one thing after a decade and a half of writing, it is that nothing motivates a writer like a deadline. This November finds me with a rough word count of 20k and a solid plot set for my novel. I have a personal goal of completing the manuscript by December 31st of this year, and a November challenge seems like just the grueling challenge to help me bang out a first draft.
Patron saint of writers, Anne Lamott, encourages "shitty first drafts," so I'm putting my perfectionist self on the back burner and going to simply get the story out onto the page. Plus, with 85k words, I'll have plenty to work with and send an editor, so that the beginning part of next year can be spent pitching the book around.
Since I'm relatively new to the novel-writing space, I was excited to see National Novel Writing Month (often referred to as "NaNoWriMo" or simply "NaNo") as a backed effort that's been drawing hundreds of thousands of writers each year from around the globe since 1999. I was thrilled to join the ranks and community. Upon doing more research, I found that their organization has faced a considerable amount of backlash regarding their stance on using AI for the writing process.
I recently signed a statement by the Author's Guild against the unauthorized use of creative works for AI development. I have seen and personally felt how it has undercut the industry and the creative writing craft by convincing many businesses that generative AI writing can simply handle their SEO and content efforts. AI has undermined so many aspects of the beauty of writing, giving voice to works, and the creative ideation and ownership of authors that I find it completely discouraging that the official NaNoWriMo organization would be neutral, if not encouraging, of AI as part of the November challenge. Daniel José Older, acclaimed author and member of the nonprofit's board who stepped down, said it best in his resignation statement, "It is terrible for humanity and it is terrible for the environment. It kills jobs and it kills plants and animals. Also, it makes cursed, soulless garbage. And it steals shit (and I mean shit affectionately here) without permission, shit that people worked hard on and poured their heart and soul into, and repurposes that shit into said cursed soulless garbage."
The NaNoWriMo controversy has left a bad taste in my mouth, and I will not participate in any affiliated effort.
However! I am still going for 50k words because the challenge is still there. It is still a worthy effort for human-authored content. I will be updating my blog weekly with my progress, and I'll try to clock some time over on Instagram too for the community aspect.
Frances, my main character, is waiting impatiently in the wings. I am about to unleash the adventure since she has been held at the threshold for quite some time. This book will be born and the story will be realized—driven by the early mornings and late night delirium that only a 50k word count can demand. I am excited, I am thrilled, and I am ready too. Will post next Sunday, when the challenge is underway.
