NaNo Buddies and the Importance of Passion

I’m lucky. I have a best friend who loves writing just as much as I do. It’s wonderful to be able to bounce ideas off of one another while listening to music that inspires a scene, character, or relationship.

She really helped when I wrote a novel in a year, and even more so in a month.

A lot of us are participating in NaNoWriMo this month. If you’re like me, you start to panic when you get behind, staring at a blank Microsoft Word page and thinking “What the hell do I type next? I need a thousand more words before I complete my daily quota!”

Writing buddies are a powerful tool. A few nights ago I participated in a very miniature write in with my best friend from 2pm-4am, taking a midnight shopping break to buy goodies that would help us get through the next few hours. We had a word war, and I am proud to say I completed 1000 words in less than a half an hour, which, for poor little short attention span me, is very, VERY good.

Why is it so much easier to buckle down and write when you have another writer there? This applies even in a cyberspace sense, for those of you who have participated in the world wide webfamous Friday Night Writes. Is it the slight or large competitive side of us? Is it the companionship–the idea that a person close by is as crazy as you, trying to complete 10,000 words in a day? Is it the ability to bounce a fresh idea off of someone instead of keeping it bottled up inside?

I don’t know. Does the reason really matter? It’s NaNo time, ladies and gents. Word count is all that matters. Whether it’s a writing partner or five trips to Starbucks, find what gets you typing the fastest in your limited amount of free time this month.

Original post published on Old People Writing for Teens by GotYA contributor Sarah Harian. Original post and reader comments can be viewed here.