Literary Lunes Magazine: December 2011 Issue, Page 3

Catch The NaNo Rush

  By Lynn Rush

  Hi, my name is Lynn Rush and I’m a NaNo junkie.

  There, I said it. Admitting is half the battle, right?

  I seriously am addicted to the rush of staring at a blank screen with the blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner. It’s just sitting there, waiting for me to type. To create alternate worlds, intense conflicts, and crazy characters.

  NaNo exponentially intensifies that rush I so enjoy by throwing in a challenge! Fifty-thousand words in thirty days or less.

  And joining other writers who are trying to do the same thing adds to the rush even more.

  We get to meet up and encourage one another. Jaw about the plot issues, the crazy ideas we come up with, and how we get through the word droughts. This year we even started a hashtag: #NanoTramps.

  It was crazy fun.

  I get asked a lot if I have a plan when I write, especially for the intensity of NaNo. For example XX amount of words per day. Or XX amount of hours writing per day.

  The easy answer: Nope. I just write every minute I can for as long as I can and see where it takes me.

  The longer answer: The only planning I do is a brief Mind Map with some random thoughts and ideas I might want to try. My characters drive my stories, so I’m just along for the ride.

  At least during that first draft. I take over the driving after that to flesh things out, but that’s later.

  This year I worked on Wasteland 3. It doesn’t even have a title. Wasteland 2 (Awaited) hasn’t even released yet (releasing May 2012), but I’m having a blast with the new story. I managed to get 70,000 words down, so I was super happy!

  So, to all those who participated in NaNoWriMo…hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And now, the real fun begins….editing. 