Project to Published: NaNoWriMo

Project to Published

“NaNoWriMo”

As some of you may already know, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I had heard so many amazing things about it from friends and aspiring authors so decided to look into exactly what NaNoWriMo is. For those of you who may not have heard of it, NaNoWriMo is the National Novel Writing Month, which runs from November 1st to the 30th. The goal is to try to write 50k words in one month! I think it is a great idea. Here is a little explanation from the official NaNoWriMo website:

“National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2009, we had over 165,000 participants. More than 30,000 of them crossed the 50K finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.”

See why I like it? For those of you who have been yearning and waiting, trying to find the right time to start, why not take advantage of a little competition with your peers. Many authors feel that the first novel you write is a practice novel, so why not just have fun with it and let yourself go! You can write about anything and make it as random and fun as you want because as you read above, it is all about quantity not quality. I personally will be joining in with one of my next official novels because I just love the competitive spirit to this event! Let’s all let NaNoWriMo make us better authors and who knows, you may discover the opportunity that you have been waiting on.

I will be joining in NaNoWriMo meet-ups throughout the nation and I hope you will be going to your local meet-ups. I know I will be! I hope all of you will join in the “Thirty days and nights of literary abandon!”

Will you join me in participating next month?

Sincerely,

Emma Michaels