Laura Bickle

Why I Love NaNoWriMo

by Laura Bickle

The blank page is the most intimidating force in the universe to me.

It says nothing, and it’s likely to say nothing. I fight against all that white space, wondering how a ream of blank paper becomes a book. I used to take years to finish.

And then I discovered National Novel Writing Month. I learned more in that crazy month than I did in years of plinking around with the same book. I developed the most important novel-writing habits that contributed to me becoming a published writer:

• Integrating writing into my daily life. NaNoWriMo requires that one keep a pace of around 1600 words a day. It became easier for me to fold that into my life.

• Suspending the dreaded inner editor. NaNo helps me to hold my vicious inner editor at bay, allowing me to get the skeleton of a story down on the page.

• NaNo taught me to finish. Completing a manuscript is the most important thing that a writer can do to further her career. And doing it again. And again.

My 2008 NaNoWriMo urban fantasy novel, DARK ORACLE (under my Alayna Williams pseudonym), was published in June 2010 by Pocket Books. My 2009 NaNoWriMo novel, ROGUE ORACLE, was published in March 2011.

I use the skills I learned in NaNoWriMo in all my books. I’ve learned to write quickly, to write daily, and to complete a story over and over. At the end of NaNoWriMo, I certainly don’t have a complete eighty thousand word manuscript. But I have the skeleton of a book, something that I can build upon.

And I’m no longer facing the terror of the blank page. I know that it won’t be blank for long. Within a few weeks, I’ll be on my way to something wonderful.

Laura Bickle (a.k.a. Alayna Williams) has worked in the unholy trinity of politics, criminology, and technology for several years. She lives in the Midwestern U.S. with her chief muse, owned by four mostly-reformed feral cats. Writing as Laura Bickle, she’s the author of EMBERS and SPARKS for Pocket – Juno Books. Writing as Alayna Williams, she’s the author of DARK ORACLE and ROGUE ORACLE. More info on her urban fantasy and general nerdiness is here: www.salamanderstales.com