I had planned out a somewhat cohesive storyline and scheduled my writing sprints for National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. In three separate years, I won on the NaNoWriMo website. My writing goals were met or well above the word count set for each year, and every time I won, a sense of accomplishment flooded my brain, giving me a rush of dopamine. However, last year, I did not win NaNoWriMo. My honest thoughts? Meh.

NaNoWriMo is an acronym for the aforementioned National Novel Writing Month, which takes place in November every year. The website of the same name is dedicated to helping all writers accomplish their goal of writing a manuscript of 50,000 words minimum in the hopes of someday publishing their own works. Of course, this mainly encourages writers to complete the draft they keep saying they will start or finish writing but never do, something I am guilty of doing. Once the drafted novel is completed, it’s then up to the author to edit, proofread, and publish the book to the public. The website also provides tools such as a daily word count tracker, graphs and charts for your writing activity, programs for young writers, community chats to interact with other authors, and many more, including a digital certificate congratulating you on achieving your writing goal.

While it all might seem simple enough, writing a whole novel in the span of a month is a challenging feat. Whether you’re a planner, a pantser, or both, you’ll be doing atrocious mental math and preparations well before November to write comfortably and consistently. Limiting distractions, relocating to a comfortable environment, spacing out your daily writing sprints, and articulating your storyline in October will help make the novel writing process less stressful and possibly more efficient. Having an idea or outline of your plan to write premade is best before jumping into your month-long writing process.

From my past experiences, my initial thought was how easy this year’s NaNoWriMo would be for me to complete. However, I may have underestimated my sudden schedule change, as I did not have a pleasant or cooperative writing process. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Balancing my school life with my personal life had been particularly challenging enough, yet there were many sacrifices I needed to make regarding my free time to tend to familial errands or other outside responsibilities. I neglected to take into account the amount of time it takes to plan a novel outline or backward plan my days before starting on what I would be doing. So many things went wrong, yet most could not have been avoided. Unfortunately, this led to a decrease in my word quota per day and procrastination on my manuscript. But I don’t feel as bad about it as I did then.

So, what could go wrong when participating in NaNoWriMo? To start off, November is a busy month. With the holidays coming up or to a close, the month is full of surprises that you may not have been prepared for. For me, my surprises included spontaneous family trips and scholarship deadlines. I first thought I would find time to write over Thanksgiving break, yet I was swiftly proven wrong when I found myself traveling around Madison with my aunt and cousin visiting. With early Christmas shopping or spending quality time with your relatives, it’s a handful straining to write out another 2,000 words while trying to recall your uncle’s name. During this time of year, would you rather be stressing over a novel on Thanksgiving day or have a delicious chunk of turkey on your mind?

Adding on to this, balancing your daily responsibilities on top of writing a novel can be difficult, too. Some individuals have extra schoolwork, jobs to clock in for, sports to take part in, family issues, and many other things to take care of. Risking my personal problems just to write an extra 1,000 words for a novel I could come back to at a more appropriate time was not an option for me. I don’t think NaNoWriMo is worth missing assignments or missed opportunities. The need to speedily complete your manuscript while neglecting other projects and duties that are necessary for your success is not a task you should be worried about. You are not obligated to write a novel only in November; there are 11 other months in the year!

Another issue I would like to address is novel quality and competition. I have seen countless writers begin their writing process for the month and start off strong but then begin to compare their works to authors who have self-published through NaNoWriMo. I am also guilty of comparing myself to other authors, and I admit that this causes self-doubt and stress. No two works will ever be the same, and the beauty in writing your novel is that it is your vision, ultimately created by you. Perhaps it will appear similar to another form of media, yet there is no competition to see who has the most originality in their writing. The benefit of writing is to relieve stress, not to build it up. Everybody has an idea they want to put out into the world, so do not limit or stop yourself from doing so because someone else has a similar concept. Once more, time is not your enemy in this instance. When writing your manuscript or creating any other piece of media, please take your time thinking and editing to perfect what you want to be published. Even if you meet your 50,000-word goal, you can always go back and improve, add more, and overall perfect your draft to your desired taste.

Despite all this, National Novel Writing Month isn’t all negative. The main benefit of this event is that it can get people’s creative gears pumping and writing. NaNoWriMo aids all writers in coming out of their shells and challenging themselves to something new. If you are looking for something to help you manage your time while writing, I recommend attempting NaNoWriMo. In addition to this, the community forums NaNoWriMo offers are a helpful tool when seeking advice from peers who may be asking similar questions to what you have. Various authors and contributors from different backgrounds are also available to give encouragement and guidance when you need it.

Not winning at NaNoWriMo doesn’t mean you’ve failed at life or you’re lazy. It is impossible to plan for unforeseen circumstances and navigate a whole writing schedule around your current life situation in one month. If you want to write a novel in a month for fun, I say go for it! However, keep in mind that you can write any other time of the year and still feel as though you’ve won at something. And if you didn’t win last year, there’s still this year and the year after that. I think “losing” an event like this teaches you that despite your best efforts, you can’t win at everything in life, and that’s expected. You may not have won, but you tried, and that’s something to be proud of more than a digital banner by your name.