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Lessons learned from NaNoWriMo: Part III

This is a guest post from Caitlin Fitzsimmons, a journalist, travel writer, blogger and wannabe fiction writer. Her site is caitlinfitzsimmons.com.

I spend most of my life on a computer. I touch type at a reasonable pace so it’s faster than writing longhand, and there’s no doubt that word processors make the editing process far easier. But writing on a computer also has disadvantages. Firstly, I already spend all day at work on a computer, so sometimes I might like a change of scene. Secondly, the computer is distracting. My mind wanders and before I know it, I’m checking emails and my favourite websites. I found that I often had to leave the house and take my laptop to a library or cafe - anywhere with a power point and no internet connection - just to get some work done. And even then, I was checking word count every few hundred words. The final disadvantage to writing on a computer is that you need the computer in order to do it. It’s a mistake not to write just because you are not near a computer - in reality you can write anywhere and feeling hidebound by technology is just another excuse not to write.

I had to write most of my NaNoWriMo novel on the computer because I wanted to submit the electronic text in order to get my word count verified. But I think I will write the next novel by hand and the second draft will be when I type completed chapters or even the entire manuscript into the computer. The few times during NaNoWriMo that I did write longhand with pen and paper were a revelation. It’s true that editing is much harder but that’s actually a good thing when you are trying to write the first draft. It’s also true that I write slower than I type (average writing speed is 25 words per minute for longhand and I type at 70 words per minute). Again, that’s a good thing because it takes slightly longer for the thought to travel from your brain to the page, which results in nicer, more considered prose. Best of all, there were no distractions, so I probably wrote more words in a shorter space of time on the computer.

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