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For those who are not writers (and maybe a few of you who are) I want to explain that NaNoWriMo is not a word from Lewis Carroll’s poem Jabberwocky It stands for National Novel Writing Month. This is an idea that took hold in 1999 with a small group of only 21 people. The purpose? To write a whole novel in one month.

What I didn’t know until I read it on the website is that the original idea started in July. It wasn’t until the second year that the creators of this novel-writer’s marathon moved it to its current month of distinction – November. If you want further info on the history, please go to www.nanowrimo.org to read about it. I’m not really much interested in the background, so I actually read no further about it.

What I’m interested in is why so many writers jump on the NaNoWriMo bandwagon. That is to say, can someone please explain it to me? Because I just don’t get it. I write because I enjoy writing and I do it well. (Trust me, there aren’t that many other things I’m good at.) The idea of turning it into a contest with myself to force the birth of x number of words sounds like turning the process of writing into sweatshop employment.

Before you email or comment or bitch at me, I understand the common arguments in favor. Some people are better at getting things done when they are faced with goals and deadlines. Some need an excuse NOT to use an excuse to keep them from writing. And some people feel inspired by the idea of a “community” of writers, even if you’re sitting home doing it all by yourself.

But why do you need a national movement to accomplish any of those things? Why not set yourself a deadline or a word page goal during another of the other 11 months of the year? If you joined or formed a writer’s group you could find community and use accountability to them as your reason to get work done. There are other ways besides mob mentality–aka conformity–to accomplish the same things.

I have my own argument against this idea, besides not wanting to play serf to myself as overlord. One reason I like writing is because I’m good at it, remember? I want to finish a novel feeling proud of how good it is, not how many words I got done in a limited amount of time. It seems to me that NaNoWriMo values quantity over quality, and that’s just wrong to me.

Maybe I’m just contrary by nature. When Elvis was popular, I used to root for Fabian. While the Beetles were cool, my favorite band was Tommy James and the Shondells. You all do what you need to do. If it works for you, good on ya. As for me, my goal this month, as it is every month, is to spend at least a part of every day working on, thinking about or researching my new novel Bend Me, Shape Me. Let’s race to see who gets their novel published first, shall we?

With my suspense novel, Painted Black, due out before the end of the year, I’ve been trying to focus a lot of my time on writing the next book in the series, Bend Me, Shape Me. The idea behind the push is that if–I should say when–Black gets a lot of fans who want more, they won’t have to wait long. Publishers like that sort of thing, a second book issued while it can ride the wave of a successful first book.

Unfortunately, since my day job as a part time account coordinator has been generating almost zero hours this month, my focus has been on finding and working on freelance writing jobs with a quicker rate of return in order to make the mortgage and get groceries.

So I have not been as active writing Bend Me as I would like. In fact, if it wasn’t for the writer’s groups I belong to, who knows how far along I would be.

I started looking for writer’s groups a few months ago, knowing that being accountable to a group would help increase my output. Perhaps more importantly, I had been feeling a lack of writerly community. I have great friends here in Seattle, creative friends, that I have lots in common with. But there seemed to be no one who shares my drive to write, and not just write, but to write with the intent of publication.

That last is particularly important. The first few groups I found using Meetup.com had some very good writers in them. But many or all of them seemed to be part of the group simply because they enjoy writing and want to be able to share what they’ve done with someone. One group even discouraged critiques that contained negative comments. I was able to say things like “I’d like to find out more about your character’s background” as long as I also said several things that were positive, even if there weren’t that many.

Seattle Fiction Writers was the the first group that I found where I knew from the first meeting it was a keeper. First of all, they meet more fequently than most, every two weeks. Secondly, they specifically only wanted fiction writers, knowing that it can be difficult to give helpful critiques on a format you have little interest in and even less experience with. Most importantly, their About Us specifically states that one of their goals is to pursue and share publication opportunities.

I had about four chapters completed on Bend Me, Shape Me when I started attending their meetings. So that meant for eight weeks only, I was set. By now, however, I have a deadline to meet. Every two weeks, I must have a chapter done.

Not that they would throw me out if I didn’t submit anything once in a while, but it presents a goal I feel I need to meet. Sometimes the chapter is pretty short, or maybe incomplete, but I am surprised how helpful it is to have that deadline looming when I sit at my computer with no idea what the next chapter is about. It seems odd to say a deadline can be your muse, but I’ve found that they can get the creative juices flowing.

Just recently, I’ve joined another writer’s group, one that I found through someone I met at a writer’s conference put on by the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association. This one meets weekly so the deadlines come fast and furious. Thanks to my first group, I am several chapters ahead of the game, and can use this group to help edit existing content rather than produce new.

Soon, however, the pace will catch up to me. I only hope that when I find myself in the position of feeling compelled to write a chapter a week, I am able to produce. Because at that rate, Bend Me, Shape Me should be in a publisher’s hands just when the demand for another Jo Sullivan suspense novel reaches its peak. (Can I have an Amen, here, friends?)