There aren’t many times I think you should skip quality and go right for the quantity. Except during National Novel Writing Month.
I’ve discussed NaNoWriMo in other posts, so there’s not a reason to rehash it all. All I will say is the challenge is write 50,000 words (a short novel) in one month.
Fifty thousand words may seem like a lot — and it is. How can anyone expect to write quality work in 30 days? Easy. They can’t.
National Novel Writing Month is simply about letting go of your fears and hiding your inner editor and getting words on paper. As Nora Roberts said, “You can’t edit a blank page.” It’s perfectly acceptable to axe the quality in November to write the book. All the other months can be spent editing!
One common mistake people make with NaNoWriMo is expecting to have a publishable novel come December 1st. It won’t happen. Sure, you can publish it, but good luck having any success with it. I’m sure there is the rare author out there who cranked out 50K and in early December put the book up for sale and had nice reviews. That’s VERY rare. VERY.
NaNoWriMo is in November, but January and February are the “Now what?” months. I can’t revise and edit in only two months. Some people can and that’s great. It’s what works for you and your schedule. If I want to put out a quality project, which I do, I need a good three to six months with revisions and edits. This is the time to focus on QUALITY.
So yes, there are definitely times quantity wins out. For me, that’s only 30 days out of the year.
I’m happy to announce that on November 21st I completed NaNoWriMo 2015! I’ve never finished in such a short period of time!
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