Music Monday: NaNoWriMoSpecial

So here's the thing. I don't like NaNoWriMo. In fact I HATE NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is 'National Novel Writing Month' in which would-be writers are encouraged to pen their novels in one month, on the basis that a couple of thousand words a day for thirty days will get you a nice first draft. Which is true.

What is also true is that a couple of thousand words a day for thirty days in a row without repetition, hesitation or (the killer, this) deviation is bloody difficult. Very few people can toss off a novel in a month. Fewer still can write a good novel, even a good draft, in a month. Ian Rankin claims to be able to do so, Alexander McCall Smith also. You may have your own opinions on the talents of these writers, but it shouldn't be overlooked that they are both massive best-selling millionaires, which does imply some adeptness at what they do, in contrast with those of us (almost all other writers) who are not massive best-selling millionaires, which may (or may not) imply that we find writing a bit harder. They also both write genre novels (ie, in a non-judgmental sense, formulaic) with worlds and characters that they have already devised. In sum, I don't think that Rankin and McCall Smith are typical of most writers.

At the moment I am almost two years into writing my second novel. I have been working hard on it. I really don't like being told that my two years of my job can be done in a month. I am guessing that whatever your work is, you would also not enjoy a national 'your job here' month, which implied that two years of your work could be done in a month if you just applied yourself a bit harder. It makes me feel inadequate. And jealous. Definitely jealous.

So yes, let's encourage people to write - I [mostly] love writing, I love the idea that other people can get the same joy I [sometimes] get from writing - but let's not spread the idea that writing a novel is easy. Quite aside from anything, the difficult reality is likely to put off the very people that NaNoWriMo is trying to reach.

Oh, and as it's Music Monday...