“NaNoWriMo” stands for “National November Writing Month,” and it’s a call to authors to set time aside for one month to write a novel. The actual goal is to write 50,000 words in a month, which is about the average novel size. That means that writers are urged to produce 1,667 words a day to meet that goal.
It isn’t for everybody, but it’s a great tool for someone like me who enjoys the “event” feel of it, and admittedly, I would have never found the time to write as much as I did in years past without it. Plus, they have a very active forum on their site, local writing groups to participate in, and fun little badges for each milestone you reach along the way. Once I decided that I was going to participate in the event, I found that during the mornings and evenings that I was completely wrapped up in my story, it opened up a joy for writing that I hadn’t known before.
At times it is incredibly difficult for me to crank out any number of words, but that forces me to look for new ways to overcome writer’s block, whereas I might otherwise just set my writing aside. And it has been a great source of inspiration for thousands of people, including some best-selling authors whose books were born in NaNoWriMo, the most well-known being Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
There are several things that I have been doing to prepare for NaNoWriMo 2017. For one, starting this blog was a way for me to get back into writing, since I haven’t done much at all lately. The rest of my November preparations will revolve around a novel that I had started a couple of years ago but hadn’t finished. It is sitting at 43,999 words right now, and I’m currently editing it, so anything that I add to that will go towards my 2017 word count. I printed out a copy so that I could re-read it on paper and write notes in the margins. So far I have discovered a major plot flaw that needs fixing and I’m finding areas that need help, like the dialogue – not my strong point! Also, the entire last chapter that I wrote added too much story to it, so I’m going to remove it and take a different spin on it. The plan is to have it reread and well-edited so that I will be completely ready to move forward with it when November 1st rolls around.
Wish me luck!