Hey guys, what's up?
Welcome back to another video.
Last week I did the....
I keep trying to say seven reasons, cause I always do seven reasons, and this time I
couldn't narrow it down to seven so it was nine.
*sigh* Last-- It's really bothering me that it was nine and not seven, but last week I
did nine reasons why you shouldn't participate in NaNoWriMo and this week I'm doing the flip
side of that, which is nine reasons why you should participate in NanoWriMo.
Basically, you should watch both videos, and whichever one applies more to you, you can
know whether you should or you shouldn't.
And again, disclaimer, these are my opinions.
I wrote these out of my brain.
So take them with a grain of salt.
So if you haven't watched that other video, link in the description down below, card up
here, go watch it.
To summarize for those of you who haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, it is national novel writing
month and basically, it's a challenge where you challenge yourself to write fifty thousand
words in the month of November.
So let's get right to it, reason number one why you should do NaNoWriMo: it will help
you make connections with other writers.
This keyword is just, obviously, surrounded and tied to other writers, so just searching
the keyword or looking for posts that use that, you know that there's another writer
there and you'll have a good topic to talk to them about because you can talk to them
about NaNoWriMo.
So it's just a good way to kind of draw people together.
And you'll find lots of writing groups surrounding it, and lots of Youtube videos where you can
comment to meet people.
Reason number two: something I really need to work one, which is part of the reason I'm
doing NaNoWriMo this year, and that is it will help you make a habit of writing.
I want to get into the habit of writing every day, to the point where if I don't write for
a day it feels wrong and weird.
And I've seen that kind of posted a lot in the author community, and I think that getting
to that point can really help you succeed and I want to get there and I'm not there
right now.
I used to be, back with Aletheia and now with the second one, I'm struggling to get back
into it.
And I'm hoping that writing every day for NaNoWriMo will help me get back into just
the habit and addiction to writing.
Number three, as someone who is a gamer at heart, but doesn't really have time to game,
there's a huge drive in achievements and banners and rewards and all of that kind of thing.
And if that's something that drives you forward as a sense of motivation NaNoWriMo is a pretty
good place to get it.
It will track your progress, you'll have milestones and goals to hit, and there are badges associated
with the milestones and goals, and little achievements you'll get within the NaNoWriMo
site itself.
So It's just really set up to kind of trigger that sense of achievement in you and if that's
something that pushes you forward really strongly, then NaNoWriMo will probably be a good way
to get yourself motivated.
Number four: this is something that I'm not sure if I want or not yet, I haven't decided,
but NaNoWriMo can really help separate your editor and writer insides, into two.
So there are a lot of people who think that you're a better writer if you write without
thinking, you ignore grammar, you ignore punctuation, and you take the editor and you silence it
and put it in a corner so you can focus all of your energy on the writer part and the
creativity.
I think there's some benefit to that, but I've always been an edit as I go kind of person.
And I'm trying to get to this place where instead of editing as I'm writing I instead
go back and read what I'd written prior to where I'm starting to write and I edit that
and then I start writing fresh and try to not pay attention to editing knowing that
I'm going to come back next time I write and edit it.
That kind of calms me in that regard.
But NaNoWriMo, if you decide that you want to separate out the writer and editor in you,
will help you do that because you're going to be focused on getting the words on the
page because that's how you win, is by hitting the word goals.
So you're going to care less about editing and more about the word count.
Number five: this is fun to imagine.
It's easier to go into battle with people standing beside you than alone.
Even if you're going to be facing your own demon at the other side of that battlefield,
having other people facing their own demons beside you is going to help motivate you and
make you feel less alone.
And I think that can be really beneficial.
I mean I think that's a lot of the reason why a lot of you watch authortube, is to remind
yourself that there are other authors out there struggling with you and facing the same
kinds of issues and that they understand what you're going through.
And NaNoWriMo is a very good way to do that very side-by-side because you're all kind
of starting with this zero word count, trying to get to fifty thousand.
So it's like you're running onto the battlefield at the same time, side by side, and I think
that can be really uniting.
Number six: Advice and tips follow NaNoWriMo like my cats when I'm holding food.
Basically, just the keyword in general of NaNoWriMo is going to be tied to so many blog
posts and youtube videos and tweets that are meant to share advice and tips with other
people in the community who are also struggling through NaNoWriMo.
You don't have to be participating in NaNoWriMo to really benefit from this, but if you're
participating you feel more of a connection with that keyword so it can be beneficial.
But basically, this is just kind of a good motivator for writers everywhere to share
their knowledge with other people who are struggling through the writing trenches.
Number seven: I think this one's really important, and that is that you're going to be constantly
surrounded by reminders to write every day.
We all fall into that place where we slip into procrastination and we pick up our phone
and we go and check social media, and in this case, through the whole month of November,
checking social media is probably going to result in you seeing that keyword: NaNoWroMi.
Which is going to make you think "I should be writing so that I can win NaNoWriMo".
And whether the posts that you're seeing are cries of defeat or shouts of victory for that
given day, they're still going to be reminders, and that will helpfully help pull you off
of Twitter, or Youtube, or whatever other platforms you've gotten lost on.
Number eight: This is one that especially applies to us indie authors who don't have
a publisher breathing down our neck, you have a deadline to which you're held socially accountable.
So basically, you're going to be seeing posts every day about NaNoWriMo and you're going
to know that that date of the thirtieth is coming up, and you want to get to those fifty
thousand words before the thirtieth.
So there's a deadline and people who know you're participating in NaNoWriMo are going
to ask how it's going and you're going to want to post on social media about how it's
going and it sounds stressful when I say it like that, but having those social platforms
and those other people watching your progress and knowing that they're waiting to see if
you win or not, is a motivator for a lot of people.
If you're running a race alone and no one's looking at you, you're less likely to finish
then if you're running a race surrounded by spectators.
And number nine: You'll learn more about your limits and your quality of output at those
limits.
This one's a little weird because this one's a benefit even if you fail.
Basically, this is just kind of a way to know how many words you can write in a day before
those words just turn to mush.
Because there is a point you're going to hit where if you've written too many words in
a day you just start writing nonsense and it's not even worth putting the time into
it because going back and editing it you can't turn it into anything good and worthwhile.
So doing this will help you know where you're going to hit that limit and you can know for
future months what kind of goals you should set for yourself to where you're going to
get a good draft out of it.
Alright, that was it for this video.
Umm, if you want to watch my journey through NaNoWriMo more closely, such as if I'm hitting
my goals.
Become a Patron.
You can head over to Patreon and just search Cloud Kitten Chronicles.
If you do three dollars and above you get access to our Discord server.
So I'm going to be posting there, hopefully, every day what word count I'm hitting.
I'm going to start a text channel there specifically for NaNoWriMo.
So if you want to join me on this journey and share it with some other lovely writer
people than go become a patron.
Just three dollars or more you get access to the discord server.
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If you liked this video, give it a share and a thumbs up.
LEave a comment down below, are you participating in NaNoWriMo?
What of the benefits that I listed is what kind of drew you to NaNoWriMo if any?
Let me know in the comments down below, I love to hear from you guys.
And I will see you in the next video!