The most wonderful time of the year ...

 This year has been so strange that in my head, I’m convinced we’re still only in April. However, a glance at the calendar reminds me that November is fast approaching.

 

In my teaching days, I’d already have started planning out Christmas music by now, guaranteeing that long-suffering parents would be sick of Jingle Bells by the time 25 December finally arrived. The classrooms I walked past would be strewn with glitter and cotton wool, while staff endeavoured to corral excitable children into place for nativity rehearsals. 

 

While I (mostly) love Christmas, I don’t really want to be bombarded with tinsel and adverts for the latest must-have gifts from mid-August. That’s why – as a writer – November brings a welcome distraction.

 

That’s right: November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. The concept is simple, but the practice requires grit, determination and several buckets of coffee. Writers who take part set aside this month to write as much as they can on a new novel project, with the goal being to reach at least 50,000 words by the end of November. I’ve never yet achieved this total myself, although I know plenty of people who have.

 

For me personally, NaNoWriMo isn’t so much about hitting a seemingly impossible word count as giving myself permission to set time aside to write, write and write some more. I’m generally far too prone to over-analyse every word I write, so shutting my inner editor in a box* for thirty days feels very freeing. What I find particularly helpful is engaging with others as part of the process. Having friends who will cheer me on – or commiserate when the words won’t flow – makes a big difference.

 

I know there are some who don’t find this approach to writing helpful (and that’s okay). For those who do – or would like to give it a go – there’s an ACW Facebook group where we can encourage and support one another (ACW NaNoWriMo Buddies). Please don’t feel you have to restrict yourself to a novel – many writers use this time to focus on other projects, too.

 

Would you like to join in?

 

*Please don’t put your real editor in a box. It’s not kind, however many soul-crushing comments they may have put on your manuscript.

Fiona Lloyd is Chair of the Association of Christian Writers and writes regularly for Together magazine. Her first novel, The Diary of a (trying to be holy) Mum, was published by Instant Apostle in January 2018. Fiona also works for Christians Against Poverty.

 

Twitter: @FionaJLloyd & @FionaLloyd16