NaNoWriMo

It's almost November, so I thought I'd let you guys and gals know about an event I participate in every year. It's called NaNoWriMo, which is really short for "National Novel Writing Month." NaNo is a thirty-day challenge with a very simple goal: write fifty-thousand words before midnight on November thirtieth.

This sounds crazy, right? But people all over the world participate in NaNo every year, and plenty of them make it to 50K--in fact, quite a few of them go above and beyond. I've done NaNo twice, and both times I was prevented from "winning"--the first year, I was on my own and just had no motivation to reach 50,000, and the second, I was hit with two debilitating setbacks in the same week: a lengthy essay project and a serious illness. This year, I'm determined to reach 50,000 if it kills me. With support, I hope I can do so without the ultimate price of death.

The thing about NaNo is it gives you two wonderful things for a writer to have: support and a deadline. You won't believe how much difference those two simple words make. Just from year one to year two of my experience, I learned a lot about myself as a writer and about my writing process. I had a ton of fun, too. Going to meetings and writing as a group, doing word wars and receiving encouragement were some of the best things I could have done for myself. It was also nice to be surrounded by kindred spirits, to hear the people around me complaining about things like plot, character development, consistency, and character rebellion.

Check out the website for more information; I've provided a link in the title of this post. I would write more now, but it's a bit late, and unfortunately, this blogger has class in the morning. I'll tell you all more about NaNo in coming posts, but for now, I'll just leave you with this sentiment: NaNoWriMo is fun. You should do it.

Click the link. Click the link. Click the link.

(Hey, the repetitive-order thing always worked for Wishbone.)