It’s been a long year guys, so I’m going to throw it into reruns and share some of the first videos I made for Instagram. Even though these videos were filmed over a year ago—before my more recent fetching highlights and before I got myself a decent ring light—the topics I covered in these two series are some of my most perennial: how to write your novel and to find an agent. One thing I hope for all of is during this interminable year is that we are finding at least some time to move our own beloved projects forward, even if it’s not as quickly as we’d like.
I’m not sure who’s bonkers enough to be doing NaNoWriMo during this November—owner of the longest election cycle in human history—but if you are cheers! I filmed this series with this in mind, but it is equally valuable if you’re just needing something to kickstart yourself back into the game. What I like about NaNoWriMo is that it gives writers a structure to get going.
For the unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo—or National Novel Writing Month—is a month-long challenge to write an entire novel during the month of November (the goal is 50,000 words which is more of a novella, but still). Writing 50,000 words in a month is a lofty goal under any circumstances, but thousands of people sign up every year, including this one. The challenge can be a great short-term, extrinsic source of motivation.
I’m a firm believer that writing is more about habits than anything, but I think it’s valuable to consider what’s bringing you to the desk in the first place. Not your inspiration, but what’s motivating you to squeeze writing in between your obligations to work, family, school, etc. Writing for most of us is an ‘extra’ thing we’re doing, so it needs to feel worth it if you are going to stick with it.
So, how do you get motivated to do something as huge as writing a novel?
There’s a story I always tell when people ask me about how I got started as a writer. I was a few years out of college, living in New York City and working full-time at Random House as a publicist. While there, I connected with Polly Devlin—a phenomenal writer and singular personality—who was then a Professor at Barnard College. We were out for coffee one afternoon when I felt the need to confess to her that I wanted to be a writer myself. (A young publishing assistant with writing aspirations: the shock!) I went on to explain the difficulty I was having getting through the novel I was working on at the time.
Devlin asked me two questions: What time do you wake up in the morning? and Could you wake up an hour earlier to write before you leave for the office?
Never much of morning person, I balked a bit. Devlin went on to tell me, quite bluntly, that in the morning before work was the only time I was going to be able to work and if I didn’t carve it out, I would be sitting in the exact same spot ten years from now, wondering why I never finished my novel.
That conversation put the fear of God in me in the best possible way. The next morning, I was up and ready to write at 7am (LOL. That felt early when I was twenty-five). Within months, I had finished my novel. Devlin’s blunt premonition gave me a sense of urgency. The specter of being a ‘never was’ was more terrifying than the early alarm clock.
NaNoWriMo is fun, but motivation has to come from within to be useful. The unvarnished truth of it that no one—including the fine folks at NaNoWriMo—truly cares whether or not you write your novel. NaNoWriMo, writing classes ,and literary workshops are great support systems that can energize you and hold you accountable. But they are by definition extrinsic motivators and as such, they are not enough to carry you to the finish line. Motivation that comes from within is the only thing that can get you out of bed in the morning.
Most novelists have innumerable failed attempts behind them before their work amounts to something, so ask yourself, why will this time be different?
For me, it was the fear of letting a life-long dream pass me by. For others, it can be grief or anger, revenge or regret. These big and uncomfortable emotions can be the forces that make us sit down and write.
This week’s exercise: Ask yourself, what will happen if I don’t write my novel?