Countdown to NaNoWriMo

It’s only four days away! National Novel Writing Month is when you finally take pen in hand (figuratively) and pour out that novel that’s been in your head or your heart for so many years. Start at 12:01 a.m. (if you really want to) on Nov. 1st, and keep writing until midnight on the 30th.

If you’ve always wanted to write but could not get started, use this campaign to give you the push you need. Even if you’re not interested in writing, it’s worth reading a bit about the background of the program because it really is amazing that so many people can write an entire novel in one month. The event started as a combination write-in and block party with only 21 participants in 1999. Through the magic of digital word-of-mouth, the number of participants has increased exponentially each year until there were more than 200,000 people writing in NaNoWriMo last year. A lot of camaraderie will develop builds up during a month when that many people are feverishly working on the same thing at the same time. I expect hilarity to ensue, along with sleep deprivation, inability to recognize loved ones, and glossolalia.

Of course at the completion of NaNoWriMo, you have to deal with what you’ve written, which will probably be 90% incomprehensible crap and 10% good story. But many people do go on to edit their NaNoWriMo works and get published. So that possibility is always out there. I will do it for the enjoyment of writing and the excitement of knowing there’s a huge community of people out there doing the same thing.

And, since I will be writing for six to eight hours each day, I may not be blogging quite as regularly. I hope to give you some sort of update at least three times a week. Plus my word tracking widget will show on the right side of the blog, to keep me honest. (That's if the administrators get the widget working.)

Are you a writer? Are you going to participate in NaNoWriMo? Think about it!

Katrina