I first heard about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) from an online friend in 2003. The idea is to write 50,000 words in one month. Although this is a little short to be considered a "novel" by most publishers or readers, it's close, and it's actually doable with a little determination and discipline. The primary value of writing all those words in one month is, one gathers, that it helps overcome the procrastination and self-doubt that many people experience when they contemplate attempting to write a novel. By slogging through under a deadline and in the company of fellow writers, the would-be author learns that yes, he or she really can write a book, or rather a very rough draft of a book.

I've been writing seriously for about a year now, and have produced eleven short stories that are all presently in circulation looking for publication. I also began a fantasy novel that I've not worked on much lately. I had outlined it before I knew much about how to craft an interesting plot, and I fear I'll need to redesign the whole thing.

One of my first short stories (a novelette really, at almost 15,000 words), "Too Far to Follow", was a very ambitious project: I wanted to explore two different cultures, deal with the life-long relationship arc between the two lead characters, touch on epistemological and metaphysical questions, and also make a kind of first-contact story involving alien nanotechnology. Yes, that's a lot for a short story, and it gave me lots of worry when I was writing it. A few months after finishing it, it occurred to me (duh) that it would work better as a novel. The final impetus came in October when I learned that the short story had—rather miraculously—been selected as a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest.

So I took advantage of NaNoWriMo to draft a novel-length version of "Too Far to Follow". I finished the 50,000 words in exactly three weeks. I had set up a schedule that would ensure I got to the finish line, even if I was unable to write each day. Since I had no challenges keeping to the schedule, I finished early. I played by the rules and did not paste in any text directly from the short story—I rewrote everything. I learned that my intuition had been correct: the concept really does work better at this length. I also stumbled upon a few strong additions to the story that I had not imagined before.

What else did I learn from the experience? I learned I really can draft 20,000 words a week, and that I can write for 5 or 6 hours in one day without the writing degrading too much toward the end of the day. I got a taste of what it feels like to write as a job instead of a hobby, and learned that I can improvise when the outline isn't working.

So is this a good way to write? Will I do it again, or make it a model for my ongoing work? The answer, for me at least, is no. A lot of those words I produced are garbage. I was slapping down plot and dialog at the expense of description and realism. I expect I'll end up throwing away about a third of it and drastically rewriting another third. Maybe I'll be able to use the remainder with some pruning and polishing. Essentially, I'll need to create a whole new "first" draft to move forward from here. I'd rather have spent twice as long, thought about things more carefully, and be closer to a readable product at the end. Also, the focus on word count felt artificial to me: I was padding scenes just to make my word target, instead of telling just what needed to be told.

There are a few things I'd like to take from NaNoWriMo though. I like the idea of writing every day, and producing more than I have been. I also like the experience of writing in a "flow" state, with my inner editor quite shut down. And I like working on novel-length projects. It's time to revisit the one I started early this year, and see if I can dream up a stronger plot to wrap the characters and setting around.