Clean Up Your Mess

YEAH, BABY!

First post of November is MINE, which means I get to write about NaNoWriMo before anyone else here does!

Now, I'll keep this short and sweet, because I've got stuff and things to do, and you've got to get back to your NaNoWriMo wordcount.

I've really only got one thing to say about NaNoWriMo:

DO NOT QUERY AGENTS WITH THE MESS YOU WROTE DURING NANOWRIMO UNTIL IT HAS BEEN PROPERLY CLEANED.

Seriously, folks. NaNoWriMo is an exercise in discipline. It's a motivational tool to get you into the habit of meeting a daily wordcount and writing to a deadline. It's about getting the words out and on the page, because no one is going to read a novel you haven't written. 

IT IS NOT ABOUT "FINISHING A NOVEL."

Once you're finished with NaNoWriMo, you take what you've vomited onto the page and REVISE it. Tweak it. Hone it. You don't just run to Publisher's Marketplace to look for an agent that represents ninja-alien-pirate fiction. (Nor do you run straight to Popular Self-Publishing Platform to upload your opus for OMG!moniez either, but that's not something we here at the ELEW endorse anyway.)

Nor do you put the whole thing up on your blog, or any other website out there. Snippets, sure. Go wild. Tease your audience. But if you're planning on seeking commercial publication with your NaNoWriMo novel (hint: 50,000 words doth not really a novel make – you'll need to add about 20-30k more for a YA-length novel, and about 35-40k more for a standard commercial novel), don't "publish" it anywhere, in any fashion.

So, there you go. My advice on NaNoWriMo. Now get back to your wordcount. You need to make 1667 words today if you're going to stay on target, so turn off the internet and make with the wordage!

-Gothic Goddess