Nanowrimo to the Rescue

By: Colin Halbmaier

Colin Halbmaier is a student at Loras College studying Creative Writing and Media Studies. He has presented his work at Streamlines, an undergraduate English conference, serves as the co-executive editor for his school newspaper, and has been published in The Limestone Review at Loras. Primarily a fantasy writer at heart, Colin has dabbled in a number of genres. He hopes to one day publish a series of young adult fantasy novels.

The first time I sat down to write a novel was during the fall of my senior year of high school. It was nearing the end of October and NaNoWriMo was about to begin. For those unfamiliar with the event, NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is an annual challenge in November for writers and non-writers alike to create an original, 50,000-word novel in thirty days. I had been looking forward to the event for a few months, and was excited to finally put my epic three-part futuristic fantasy into words.

Thirty days later, my final word count was just short of 10,000, adding up all three times I had started over. The characters were paper-thin, the plot was all over the place, and I had no idea where I wanted to take it. Suddenly my brilliant idea was what some might refer to as a “hot mess.”

Needless to say, I was embarrassed by my writing, or lack thereof. So what did I do? I gave up.

              

Fast-forward a year later to my first year of college and my life seems to be falling apart all around me. Being away from home was hard, juggling classes was challenging, and my relationships were faltering. I felt like I was drowning in the negative energy, and needed some way to channel it. Out of that madness, with only a few days left in October, NaNoWriMo came forward.

               

At the stroke of midnight on November 1^st, I sat down and began to write. There was no game plan or premeditation this time—I was entirely on my own. Unlike my first attempt, however, I was writing with a purpose. There was more to this than simply writing a bestseller. I was channeling my deepest fears and insecurities into the story of a character not unlike myself—and overcoming them in the process.

Suddenly writing a 50,000-word novel didn't seem nearly as daunting as the year before. I would push all but the most urgent schoolwork to the side and give up hours of sleep for the sake of writing even a few extra words. The story had to go on, because this time, it was my story that I was telling.

I passed the 50,000-word mark on the 29^th with a day to spare, but the story didn't end there. I spent the final day pumping out a final 8,000 words, leaving myself with a grand total of 58,340 words. More importantly, I had overcome the greatest enemy to my writing—myself.

I’m a firm believer that anyone can create something great if they believe in what they’re doing. As cheesy as it may sound, true passion and ability comes from within. By taking everything that I thought was wrong in my life and putting it into words, I was putting myself in control of my own destiny and creating something heartfelt and honest in the process. If you believe in what you’re writing, you’ll find a way to make it happen.