This November marks the tenth anniversary of NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month. Yes, there's a website -- click on the underlined word above and you can check it out.
I sent an e-mail out to our little writing group in our small town; I have no idea if anyone will join me, but I did let them know about the "event."
The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. The stress is on QUANTITY, not quality. It's all about dumping ourselves into writing a novel without worrying about cohesion, spelling (okay, I can't let the spelling go, but I'm not revising anything else as I go), revision, self-editing, etc. It's rather like freewriting a novel, "upchucking" it onto the page -- or online, as the case may be.
The cool thing about NaNoWriMo is the support. A few years ago several of my online friends gave it a whirl, and this year two or three are doing ti again. I was reminded of it when I perused the 10 Minute Writer blog. And although NoNoWriMo goes against the grain of her ten minutes a day, she decided to give it a whirl.
Now, those of you who know me know all too well that novel writing ain't my deal. I much prefer non-fiction and poetry. But as I thought about NaNoWriMo, the idea came to me to parallel my current nonfiction project with this novel. So I've developed a character who will be going through what I've gone through spiritually and who parallels me a great deal -- to a scary extent, actually. It may very well be complete crap, but at least I shall be productive.
The left brain, logical side of me gave many reasons for not jumping into NaNoWriMo. First of all, I was starting several days too late (Nov. 4), so I would have to write about 2000 words a day to be done by November 31. Secondly, my laptop is no longer usable, so I'm stuck sharing Keith's computer which means that I can only write when he's not home (or is in bed, as is the case at present at 1:17 AM). Thirdly, I have an unexpected job to do this month with BraveWriter plus homeschooling plus grading plus Class Day plus art council meetings, plus....
But I'm trying it anyway.
And today my total is 2544 words. Not bad for a first day.
And I actually like what I'm writing. It sounds not so much like crap in several places.
Anyone care to join me?
1 comment:
Well, good luck, and no, I don't plan on joining you. I have a commission painting I need to work on and it's difficult for me to get into it. It's one of those I'm doing for the $$, rather than the fact I'm really into it, which I hate to do, but it seems to be a necessary evil right now, which I'm sure that you can understand. On top of that, I'm getting ready for window painting season, and I have several "projects" around the house that need my attention too and they don't seem to be getting done by themselves. Where is the hired help anyway? LOL! Oh, I guess that would be me. Darn! And, today, I have a window to paint. It's for an Italian Restaurant, a turkey, holding a knife and fork, saying "Eat Pizza."
Well, again, good luck. I'd best get moving or I'll not get anything done.
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