National Novel Writing Month

Well, I did it! I signed up for NaNoWriMo.

What’s that you ask? It stands for National Novel Writing Month. Its a contest that takes place every November. Writers pledge to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

Not an easy task.

That’s 1600+ words a day, which I figure is about 5 pages. And, if I’m lucky, I’ll probably only have one hour a day in which to crank out those five pages.

Yeah, I’m a little crazy.

Actually, I’m really excited about this task, despite the daunting nature of it. I’ve wanted to be a novelist since the third grade. At some point you just have to take the bull by the horns and go for it (sorry for the cliché) and that’s the whole point of NaNoWriMo, to write and write and write and edit later. It really is about cranking out 50K words in 30 days, to hell with the quality.

When I was teaching composition to college freshman, I advised them to just write. To just get their draft on paper and worry about making it pretty later. So that’s what I’m going to do this November. I’m going to write. And write. And write. And write. Until I have a finished novel. I’ll make it pretty later. And then, hopefully, find an agent to get it published.

I hope you’ll cheer me on this November. I’m going to need all the encouragement I can get.

What goals are you working towards? Do you want to commit to a project, like me, this November? We can support each other.