Five more days. NaNoWriMo is about done, and yep, you’re still more than 10,000 words short? Tried writing during the turkey cooking, and both ended up in flames?
Great news! You’re done for, and it’s about time you celebrate!
That’s why we’re Writing All Wrong.
Writing A. Wrong:
Pretend its the beginning of the month. What do I tell myself since I didnt make 50,000 this year for NaNo.
—Caryn Lefevers, Dothan, Ala.
(Note: NaNoWriMo is short for Narcissistic Nonsense Writing Motivation or something like that. Simple premise: write a “novel” of fifty-thousand words within the month of November. The prize? Fifty-thousand dollars. In the competition’s 197-year history, only five writers have claimed the prize.)
Since it’s the beginning of the month, here’s how you should plan when you come short of the goal. Planning the coping ahead of time — it helps.
—Use the material for writing your Christmas cards.
—Solicit some readership and see what kick they get from the “truncated ending.”
—Your unfinished NaNoWriMo opus: free wrapping paper.
—Shred and re-arrange: three month’s worth of beat poetry reading.
—Long-form status updates.
—Many, many, many Tweets.
—Condense into a short story.
—Condense again into a haiku.
—Those cute little fridge magnets that you can shape into Dadaist interpretations of failed NaNoWriMo novels.
—Black hat SEO for your blog.
—Platonic sexting.
—Messages in bottles.
—Make an ePub and read it on your “Incomplete Works of Me” eReader.
—Print “NaNoWriMo Winner 2012” shirts, send to Africa.
—Start some cheesy “one line at a time” contest to see your story to completion.
—Send the last paragraph to WritingAllWrong@me.com to see what’s recommended for continuation, should you choose to continue.
—Print your work and use the pages to light yourself on fire.
Writing All Wrong can be reached via email (WritingAllWrong@me.com) and followed on Twitter (@WritingAllWrong).
The Life Autistic 