During NaNoWriMo’s “In Your Pocket” Summer Drive, we’ll be posting “My First NaNo” stories from you, our amazing participants, and the writing tips you learned from your maiden voyage. Today, board member Tony Shen shares how he overcame his late start to finish his novel by busting his routine: 

It must have been November 12 or later. The start date for National Novel Writing Month had come and gone; I’d decided I didn’t have it in me to write a book in a month. This was the fourth November that I had considered writing only to do nothing about it. But my life was still fine. I sat down in a cafe two blocks from my house and happily opened a book by some amazing writer who was not me. 

During NaNoWriMo’s “In Your Pocket” Summer Drive, we’ll be posting “My First NaNo” stories from you, our amazing participants, and the writing tips you learned from your maiden voyage. Today, participant Rebecca Leach shares how committing to her word-count goal showed her she was capable of even more than she’d thought: 

My first National Novel Writing Month was in 2004: I was a senior in high school, filling out college applications and fighting desperately against senioritis. But I loved writing and really wanted to give NaNoWriMo a try.

So I did. In November, I wrote. I wrote and wrote and wrote. I shocked myself, the weekend before Thanksgiving, when I realized—I was almost at 50,000! I’d been so lost in the story that I stopped noticing my word count until I was at about 47,000 words.

During NaNoWriMo’s “In Your Pocket” Summer Drive, we’ll be posting “My First NaNo” stories from you, our amazing participants, and the writing tips you learned from your maiden voyage. Today, participant Sonia Mahajan shares why embracing your characters is so important: 

I remember that first, magical time: sifting through my piles of one-paragraph novel ideas that had never been completed, coming up with different names, finding the right font, and marking down the days on my calendar until that mind-boggling date: November 1. I waited, tingling with anticipation on October 30 for the sun to rise again so I could finally start writing.

And then, of course, when the morning of November 1 arrived, I met NaNo-itis: I banged on the keyboard for not planning enough and debated throwing my one-paragraph manuscript out the window. Of course, I didn't—otherwise I might not be typing this right now—but instead grabbed my cup of tea, flexed my fingers, and set out to novel!

During NaNoWriMo’s “In Your Pocket” Summer Drive, we’ll be posting “My First NaNo” stories from you, our amazing participants, and the writing tips you learned from your maiden voyage. Today, participant Maya Ziv shares the cathartic experience of writing her first novel: 

I remember it like it was yesterday. My palms were sweaty; I didn’t know what to expect but I knew that this night I would embark on a journey that would make memories for a lifetime. 

I had been thinking of tackling NaNoWriMo for years and finally committed last year: my birthday is in November, and I decided it would be a great present to allow myself to shirk all other responsibilities for a month and write a book. 

During NaNoWriMo’s “In Your Pocket” Summer Drive, we’ll be posting “My First NaNo” stories from you, our amazing participants, and the writing tips you learned from your maiden voyage. Today, valiant intern Michael Adamson, finds himself grappling with severe writer’s block two-thirds of the way through his story: 

There was a dark moment for me around day 21 of my first NaNoWriMo experience. I was faced with a word-count debt fast approaching 12,000 words, and any realistic chance of winning was evaporating.

I had only myself to blame. Doubt and lack of motivation had impeded my progress during the first three weeks; sometimes I would go five days without writing so much as a single word.

NaNoWriMo’s “In Your Pocket” Summer Drive officially launches today! We need your help to make our sites mobile-friendly; in return, we promise to get you 100% ready for July and November’s noveling madness, with exclusive donor goodies marking you as a NaNo-pro.

We’ll also be hosting a series called “My First NaNo”, where we ask you, our amazing participants, about your very first NaNoWriMo adventure, and the writing tips you gleaned from your maiden voyage. First up? Denise Krebs, who took on her first NaNoWriMo with her crew of eighth-grade students: 

My first NaNoWriMo was in 2008: My sister had written a novel the year before, and I was so impressed. “I want to write a novel too,” I mused in her presence. She remembered my proclamation and sent me an invitation to join her in October. I remember feeling tentative and scared as the calendar days ticked by.