Monday, October 25, 2010

That Special Time of the Year

Well, my darling sparrows, it's almost that time of year again. No, not the winter holidays with rampant consumerism, depression and stress. November 1st marks the start of the National Novel Writing Month 2010.

I know I've talked about NaNoWriMo before, but for those who aren't familiar with it here's the overview. The goal is to write 50k words in 30 days (about 1700 words a day) and produce a "novel" in a month.

"That sounds awesome," some of you say.

Yes, it is.

"That sounds stupid," a few of you think.

No, not stupid. Just masochistic.

"Fifty thousand words in one month? Do you think I'm a robot?"

Maybe.

However you look at NaNoWriMo, here are a few reasons to consider participating.

1. Writing with a group can be very motivating. NaNo is basically a personal challenge. But, there are thousands of people all taking the same challenge and plenty of friendly rivalry to go around.

2. NaNo is what you make of it. Although it's called the National Novel Writing Month, the fact of the matter is you can write pretty much whatever you want. As long as it's 50k words or more. Short story collections. Novellas. An epic poem. They all count.

3. Remember how I'm constantly saying you should write every day? NaNo is the perfect time to try it out. Even if you don't meet the overall goal you'll get a better sense of how easy it is to work writing into your every day schedule.

4. You have nothing to lose. Even if you only write 10 words by the end of November that's still 10 words more than you had at the beginning of the month. This is a situation where you will not be worse off if you make an effort.

Still not convinced? Or maybe you're curious. Click on over to NaNoWriMo.org and check it out for yourself.

I can guarantee that if you try NaNo you're in for a wild ride. There will heartbreak, tears, joy, anger, dancing and chocolate. And then there's actually writing your novel.

Come join a few hundred thousand aspiring writers and challenge yourself to do more, more quickly.

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