Five Ways NaNoWriMo Turned Me into a Writer at Fifty-One

No matter your age, NaNoWriMo has something to offer for you. For participant, Dorothy Wong, Camp NaNoWriMo gave her the chance to finish a novel! Read below to learn about her experience and what she gained during her writing journey.

The year I turned forty, I took a twelve month leave from my job. With no work commitments, I thought I would finally write my novel. While I ended up with a blog full of chatty travel posts and fantastic memories, I didn’t write my book, not even a rough outline. Anytime I tried, I found myself distracted and overwhelmed. If I couldn’t write during that sabbatical year, I told myself, I was never going to write anything. And for almost a decade, I didn’t.

Then a friend posted on Facebook that she was attempting a month-long writing challenge called NaNoWriMo. My first thought was, “Why would anyone voluntarily sign up for that?”. I couldn’t imagine putting myself under that time pressure to produce an actual novel.

Turns out, NaNoWriMo was exactly what I needed to break through my self-imposed barriers to writing. During Camp NaNoWriMo April 2021 I went from never writing at all to writing an average of 1500 words per day and creating a flawed, but completed, 50,000 word manuscript. I was ecstatic. Not only did I finish a novel, I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Here are the top five ways NaNoWriMo turned me into an enthusiastic writer at fifty-one:

1. Community: There’s nothing quite like being part of a group effort, where everyone is cheering you on to complete your 50,000 words. NaNoWriMo is dedicated to creating safe and diverse spaces, including providing online and in-person opportunities to meet fellow writers. As an older writer, I worried about keeping up when the participant age range skewed much younger. To my relief I found a community through the BIPOC online meet-ups that connected me to others like me, many with established careers and extensive life experience, who wanted to write. Finding a community of writers will give you the support you didn’t know you needed.

2. Timed Sprints: During my first online writing sprint, to my absolute shock, I churned out 600 words in 15 minutes. Being in the company of others who are all doing the same thing (known as “body doubling”) really worked for my brain. Scientific studies show that doing a task in tandem with others increases productivity. If you’ve never tried timed writing sprints, they can be a game-changer.

3. Word Count Tracker: NaNoWriMo’s online word count tracker sent an instant dopamine hit to my brain every time I updated my progress.

4. Word Count Goal: While writing an entire novel can be daunting, reaching 50,000 words felt doable. Broken down to 1500 a day, I worked in short bursts throughout the day, finding time around my job and caring for my family, to get that word count in. When I reached my goal each day, I felt incredibly motivated to keep going. Even if I didn’t reach the goal, getting some words down every day kept my inspiration burning.

5. Limits are Freeing: NaNoWriMo’s time-bounded word count freed me from the “what if it’s not any good” voice in my head. If I wanted to write, I had to sit down and write, no excuses, and I had to keep moving the story forward, as there was no time to go back and edit. By accepting that I would be writing a crappy first draft, I gave up perfection and embraced the challenge.  

NaNoWriMo made me finally believe that I could write a novel. If you’ve spent a lifetime trying to get started on your novel, I encourage you to give NaNoWriMo a try!

Dorothy Wong lives with her family on beautiful Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada where she works as a lawyer by day and writes mysteries by night. She joined NaNoWriMo in 2021 and has been happily writing ever since.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash  

Interested in the writing events Dorothy talked about? Feel free to check out our upcoming events for Writers of Color Virtual Meetups or Virtual Write-Ins! Writers of Color are also invited to check out the forum group.