NaNoWriMo is approaching quickly!!
What's NaNoWriMo you ask?
Every November, for the entire month, is the NaNoWriMo (nan-o-rhyme-o) or National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org).
What it means is that you take an idea, pluck it out of your brain and put it to paper; well put it to computer first. The rules aren't too complicated. You register through the website and then you begin November 1st. If you have written at least 50, 000 words and it is a never before written book, you can submit your work for verification, a badge, and an award.
Why participate in the NaNoWriMo?
Why not? As writers we should always be looking for ways to get our creative juices flowing; and I'm not talking about turkey gravy! I know that I need to write something every day. Whether it's just a few ideas or a few chapters! Writing keeps my brain active, alert, and sane!
Now, I'll be honest, it's a bit scary to think that in thirty days (yes, I said 30 days) I will have a 50, 000 + words novel written! Frankly it scares me that I will fail miserably! But isn't it written somewhere that's it better to try and fail than to never try at all (well, something like that)? Last year, I did fail, badly! I don't think I even did 20,000 words. Ouch!
However, that was a huge eye opening experience! I learned that it is a huge commitment to write an entire novel in a month! It means that I will spend many hours sitting in front of a computer staring at a screen, developing callouses on the tips of my fingers from typing! It means that my children may refer to me as Zombie Mom or wonder if I have gone away on vacation because I will be spending a lot of time in the office. But it's only for a month!! I just keep thinking of the huge grin on my face on November 30th at 11:59 when I have typed my last word and press ENTER to submit my written work into the system for verification! I will probably jump up from the computer- or slowly crawl out of the chair due to atrophy in my limbs from hours & hours on being in the same position- and yell at the top of my lungs, "I did it!" Waking the entire house and scaring my husband to death!
I realize that in a month there is no way that I will have a publish-ready novel! After I am done with the first draft, I then enter the dark world of EDITING!! As my friend (and amazing author) once said to me, "There's plenty in the publishing process to hate, the writing part should be the most fun!" So I am taking Jennifer's advice! I am just going to enjoy it! I will try to sneak any moment I can to write and throw myself into the lives of my character's and enjoy it! I can hate the editing and re-writing part of it later!
So I am celebrating the month that I'll accomplish something huge! I want to be able to report my experiences and share my story here! I will be posting a synopsis in a few days and hope that I will be all ready for November 1st to come along so that I can enjoy this journey!
Happy NaNoWriMo!!
