This month is NaNoWriMo, For those of you scratching your head, that’s National Novel Writing Month (https://www.NaNoWriMo.org) a non-profit with only one goal – to goad you, encourage you, and praise you into kick-starting your next book. How? It’s a simple premise – commit to writing 50,000 words, starting November 1st and writing at least 1667 words each day until November 31st.
Write it. Don’t read it, don’t edit it, don’t outline it… write it straight through.
There’s plenty of time to clean it up afterwards. The goal is to get a completed novel down in writing. Why? Because most writer will agree that’s the hardest part – just getting the damn thing written. Even if what you come out with is a complete blob of a narrative, even if it never sees the light of day, there is a certain sense of accomplishment finishing NaNoWriMo with a finished piece, even for established writers. You’ll be surprised how much you learn about yourself, your own voice, and the kind of pacing and plotting you enjoy writing the most.
And don’t fool yourself, plenty of finished novels have come out of NaNoWriMo, been published, and booted their author’s career.
Yeah, we’re already a week into November, but I encourage everyone to jump on the website and give it a try!
I’ve often heard about this but never entered. But I was just looking over their website and itlooks like it’s for people under 21. No?
Hmm…not sure where the site says that or gives that impression, but I never heard that. I have friends of many ages, including what’s politely called “advanced age”, who love it!
NaNoWriMo does have an event for younger writers. But the main November event is open to anyone.