Anyone for NaNo?

Yep, it’s coming up on that time of year again - November - which means NaNoWriMo.

For anyone not familiar with this phenomenon, November is National Novel Writing Month, when thousands of people across the globe sit themselves down in front of their computers, typewriters and word processors and attempt to write a 50,000 word story. This means you have a target of 1667 words a day, which certainly sounds more attainable than 50,000.

I have been taking part in NaNo since 2005. I won (this just means you completed your 50,000 word target, the only thing you’re competing against is your own procrastination) in 2005 and 2006. Though I didn’t win in 2007 the piece I worked on last year eventually became If Wishes Were Horses, so that’s a win in my book.

What you write doesn’t have to be great, though that’s always a bonus. In a way what you’re proving to yourself is that you have the ability to sit down and do it. The main idea is that you don’t revise, you don’t edit, you start at the beginning and keep writing until you finish, if you want to go back and edit you do it at the end of November.

The story I wrote in 2005 I think was the first thing I ever finished and will probably never be shared with anybody. Although there are parts of it I was really pleased with, I have never re-read it because most of it was dire. LOL. I am great at writing beginnings, but up until that point I’d never finished anything. So 2005 was about proving I could finish something once I’d started.

In 2006 I wrote a story which I ended up calling The Tithing. This one I was very pleased with and although it still needs a lot of work. I do hope to do something with it one day. You may have noticed it appearing and disappearing from my progress meter widgets.

I think year on year through NaNo it’s possible to see an improvement in your writing. Though you need to be writing in the other 11 months of the year as well.

2008 is the first year I’ve been organised enough to get an outline worked out before November. For the past three years I’ve been sitting down and writing by the seat of my pants. But this year I’ve got a great idea, I’m going to use September and October to get it solid in my head, with hopefully some character sheets as well. Then come November 1st I’ll be ready to go.

If you’d like to follow my NaNo progress I’ll be posting regular updates in November on my blogs. I’ll also be posting my progress on the NaNo site where I’m posting as SarahL. It may seem like November is weeks away at the moment (which it is ) but before you know it, it will be day 1 of a 30 day marathon. I hope some of you will be NaNoing with me.

For more info. visit - NaNoWriMo