Carolyn Kellogg from the Los Angeles Times reacts to Laura Miller’s article about NaNoWriMo. She makes a lot of good points and she’s quite funny too.
Here’s a quick rundown of Miller’s argument, and where it goes wrong.
1. Miller writes: » ‘Make no mistake,’ the organization’s website counsels. ‘You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create.’ I am not the first person to point out that ‘writing a lot of crap’ doesn’t sound like a particularly fruitful way to spend an entire month, even if it is November. »
In fact, spending a month « writing a lot of crap » is more fruitful than many things, including much of the fun, casual cultural consumption we regularly engage in. It’s more fruitful than watching TV, playing video games, spending hours on Facebook or Twitter. It might not be more fruitful than innoculating children in an underdeveloped village, but we’re not talking about people quitting the Peace Corps in order to do NaNoWriMo. The only thing « writing a lot of crap » can genuinely be said to be less fruitful than is writing well.
Miller quotes it, but misses the essential point: for a hopeful writer to « just create. » It’s the act of doing that’s important. Knitters don’t knit because their friends need more hats. But so far, there hasn’t been a « Better yet, DON’T knit that scarf » manifesto.
Meanwhile, I’ve managed to do my full word count for the first time in three days, and things were going smoother. It helped that I did not have to do « paid » work for a client, of course. I really need to learn to write faster in general. (People who know me well will tell you that I need to learn to do EVERYTHING faster, but hey, one thing at a time.)
I took a break in the late afternoon and went for a walk in the woods near where I live. With the headphones on, inspiring music playing and the blood pumping fast, I kept coming up with what felt like better ideas and nicely constructed sentences. Someone needs to come up with a way for writers to type while they walk. I could record my ideas into my iPhone but generally, as soon as I say them out loud, I stop believing in them.
