BW44: November - National Novel Writing Month

  National Novel Writing Month

November is coming up fast and that means it is time for Nanowrimo which is short for National Novel Writing Month.   If you aren't aware of what it is - here's the skinny:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write 50,000 words  by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

I've been participating since 2007 which makes November a very crazy, stressful, interesting month.  Why do I do it?  Because it challenges me to be creative.  However, going to do things a little differently this time.  I'm in the midst of editing a story, which involves a lot of rewriting.  I'm going to be a Nano rebel.  I've checked in with the powers that be and the consensus is 1 hour of editing is equal to 1000 words, so shooting for at least two hours of editing a day. Yeah!  It's doable.  Plus the sparkly idea percolating in the back of my head may just get incorporated into the story.  

My son is also participating through the Young Writer's Program and he gets to set his own writing goal.  He loves writing fan fiction and would probably write 8 hours a day if I let him.

So if you have ever had the urge to write, jump in and join the rest of the nanowrimo's. For those nonwriters among us, check out the Irish Times new book club or Russia Beyond the Headlines article on children's literature and How Dr. Dolittle became Dr. Ayobolit.

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