I've been really bummed about not being able to do NaNoWriMo this year. Now that I've launched into revision, I don't want to stop, so I decided to sit NaNo out this year. But I've come up with a way to use my revisions to join the NaNo fun. I call it NaNoRevMo.

The thing I love about NaNoWriMo is how liberating it is. The goal of NaNo is not perfection, but progress. I have a quote from the official guide to NaNo posted on my fridge which says, "Don't get it right. Get it written." Or, stop being a perfectionist. A first draft doesn't have to be perfect. A final draft does, yes. But I've come to realize that I'm not writing a final draft yet. I'm not editing and polishing. I'm working out major structural and pacing issues, building up the character and setting details that are already in place. "Don't get it right. Get it revised." That's my new motto.

So in the spirit of NaNoWriMo, I'm going to get as much revision done as possible and not worry about whether or not it's perfect. Because writing, like ogres (and onions!), has layers. And this layer isn't about perfection.