The next year I did much better, but I still only hit 17,000 words. I hit a snag with the manuscript after a week, crashed and burned and then spent the rest of the month re-writing the words I had. ‘The first time I attempted NaNoWriMo,’ says Heidi, ‘it didn’t go perfectly.
I’ve always found the rough draft of a novel by far the hardest thing to write, so it seemed like it might be good discipline for me to learn how to write without editing for a whole month.’ I also thought it would really help with my productivity. ‘They do write-ins locally which I haven’t yet been brave enough to try,’ says Heidi, ‘but I might this year. ‘How cool would that be! Writing generally is very solitary work, but I’m a sociable person so the idea of getting support and tips from other writers also really appealed to me. ‘I adored the idea of attempting to write a novel in a month,’ Heidi says. Heidi, author of 25 published novels including So Now You’re Backand Summer at Willow Tree Farm , has participated in four iterations of NaNoWriMo. My Open University tutor John O’Donoghue told me about NaNoWriMo and it seemed like a wonderful, economical way of finding out.’ ‘I had written a couple of short stories and I wanted to have a go at a novel,’ says Julia, ‘but I didn’t want to spend a whole year finding out I couldn’t hack it. Julia, author of five published novels including Her Husband’s Loverand Cuckoo, first tried NaNoWriMo after taking a couple of online writing courses with the Open University.
Writing Romance Course Director Heidi Rice and PWA tutor Julia Crouch are both published authors who have taken part in NaNoWriMo, and they share their experiences and tips for getting the most out of the process. To prepare for this year’s challenge, Camp NaNaWriMo is launching soon, offering a space for all NaNoWriMo participants to get together, write and support each other. For those of you who need some incentive to get started, National Novel Writing Month is for you. It’s no secret that writing a novel is difficult, and there are just so many pressing concerns in our day-to-day lives that writing can often take something of a back seat.