Thread by @melbnano

It's Nanowrimo #DoubleUpDay: in the Melbnano timezone, we have till 7pm to reap the glorious rewards. If you donate $25 or $50, you get the rewards of the next tier up! Also, you can aim to double your daily word count, or your total!

This thread though? It's free!

Kate here, Doctor Fancy Pants, the ML in the Woods:

Since it's Double Up Day, a great opportunity to support Nano HQ and the fabulous non-profit work they do encouraging literacy and young writers (read more about that: nanowrimo.org), I thought I'd share my own story.

Because it's me, it's a pretty long story. I don't do pithy ;)

But it's the story of what Nanowrimo means to me, and how it helped me find myself again when I felt lost, and why every year I sign up, and donate, and why I've now joined our ML team to help others find that joy.

Probably like many wrimos, I've been writing stories as far back as I can remember. From my first scrabbly handwritten story about Donny the Dingo (I still have it!), through the fantasies of primary school and the space operas of high school, I wrote and wrote and wrote.

But the world doesn't always encourage stories. Sometimes the world tells you that stories are self-indulgent, that there's no room for them in an ordered successful life. You'll be broke, you'll be shiftless, your dreams will become nightmares.

I listened, wrimos.

And I thought, since I'm interested in lots of things, that I'd hedge my bets.

At university, I eventually ended up doing Arts/Science, and I made sure I did at least one subject every semester that would feed my creativity, even in a sideways manner.

Otherwise, I knew I wouldn't find time to write. I'd be too intensely focused on study. I threw in a Diploma of Creative Writing, partly because it's good to hone your craft if you get the chance, but mostly because that would give me *time* to write. It would give me permission.

Then I finished undergrad. I did Honours in marine biology. It went well.

I started a PhD.

I stopped telling stories.

A PhD is a strange thing (I could say plenty), but one problem with it is that you are *always* working. You can't write stories because you should be writing *your thesis*. If you're not in the lab, and you're not ready to thesis, you should be reading papers.

It's a bit toxic.

I took weekends off, when I was doing the lab work. I started a band with some friends. I made sure I had time away from it.

But I didn't write many stories, because I felt guilty that I couldn't give them everything.

There are a lot of jobs like that, and a lot of places in life that people end up where you have those feelings. Parenthood looks a lot like that, too.

And I found Nanowrimo, in 2010. I was grinding lab work, and I *needed* something else. I was cracking. I thought, well, okay.

I didn't go to any write-ins. I didn't visit the forums. I just signed up on the website, and focused on the word count. I'd scribbled a few vague notes on the plot arc before November 1, and I was off.

I gave myself permission to write. "You're allowed," I told myself.

All that dammed-up creativity, the imagination and power and expression that had slipped out in journal entries and poems I don't remember writing and half-finished songs-

It tumbled out of me. I launched off like a rocket, and I felt more like myself than I had in years.

It was a revelation.

Then my PhD called me back, and I didn't let myself have Nanowrimo again until 2013, after I handed in my thesis draft. And the magic happened again. I let myself write. This time, I went to write-ins. I went to Knox.

The Knox library write-ins introduced me to some of the most profoundly quirky and fabulous people I've ever met, and I'm honoured to know them and count them as friends. It's Knox Writers now, because November finished and we just... kept turning up.

Again, that revelation. Again, that discovery of myself. Only for November, because the PhD called me back, and I got a full-time contract at the same time. The rest of the year I gave to science, even as I tried to carve out Knox for stories, but November? YES. WRITE.

Every year, it's gotten easier to let myself write. The last couple of years, I've learned how to give myself permission to write all year. I've learned to once again value my stories. Now I write throughout the year, though there's nothing like that flood and drive in November.

When I hear our writers discussing their stories, their plot holes, narrative structure and character arcs, I feel an effervescent joy for all of them; from the kiddos who still need to be picked up by their parents, to the older wrimos who are minding grandkids.

I'm delighted by every single one of you, whether you zoom ahead to 50K before day 8 (how the heck!), or whether you fall behind your daily word count (you are still writing!). You're doing amazing things. You're declaring that yes, as the slogan says, your story matters.

Every day that you write, you are shouting defiantly at world that tries to flatten you. Whether you come to every event you can manage or whether you shyly lurk online, you're writing.

That's why I support NaNoWriMo.

That's why every year, I donate what I can (I missed one year, no halo for me). That's why I encourage people to start their novel on November 1st. That's why I've signed up to help manage a region with *checks notes* 835 active writers.

(that's a lot)

Nano is about writing as much as you can, without worrying about how good it is, because you can fix it later. As the cry goes, editing is for December. If you've got an inner voice that tells you that you can't write, or that you shouldn't write, or that your story is terrible-

Well, I've got that voice too. It's called Bob. In November, I tie Bob to a chair, gag him, shove him in a closet, and lock the door. Bob's a jerk.

I couldn't have done that without Nanowrimo. I'd have let myself shout myself down.

NaNoWriMo let me find myself, let me find my stories. NaNoWriMo brought me a lively, lovely community of people, and dear friends I never thought to make. They do good work.

If you can afford it, donate, and get that pin. If not, keep striving for the words!

Thanks for sticking around, friends. This is my #DoubleUpDay story. I know you'll have your own.

Every single one of you delights me, Melbnano.

Your story matters.

~Kate
Doctor Fancy Pants
The ML in the Woods