On your mark, get set, go! Today is November 1st, the first day of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
Basically, for those who don't know what NaNoWriMo is, the main idea behind it is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days (the month of November). One of the main objectives of NaNoWriMo is to get aspiring novelists to actually write their novel, but in 30 days. Why such a short time period? Well, in my opinion, if you gain the confidence of knowing you are fully capable of writing a 50,000 word novel (by finishing NaNoWriMo), you'll be able to more easily write your next novel (taking longer than thirty days of course). A major problem with to-be writers is that they lack confidence, thinking they'll never be able to finish, or lack discipline, not having the ability to just set time aside to their novel every day. With NaNo, you HAVE to budget your time or you'll never finish, so it teaches you time management. Once you finish a novel, you are free to gloat. Plus, after writing your novel and go back to revise it a few months later, you can learn about all of the errors you made and learn how to correct them.
A few tips to finishing your NaNoWriMo novel
1) Don't procrastinate. See how I posted this blog post? Yeah, try not to do that as much. That's time wasted that you could be writing your novel. I'm only posting this because I love you guys.
2) Don't edit. No matter how much you want to revise your previously-written chapters, don't look back. We both know they aren't you best, but don't reread them yet. That's for December.
3) Write the required 1667 words (or about) each day. It helps you keep a time line and not have to write all 50k in the last weekend of November. That's what I call stressful.
4) Calm down and have fun. Don't worry about if your writing is good or bad or about plot holes. Just write. It will all sort itself out. If it doesn't, that's what December's revisions are for.
I hope this helps! After all, I did use up valuable NaNoWriMo time typing it up. :] Best of luck to the participants! See you in December! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at penelopepaige@rocketmail.com. Time to go sharpen that pencil...
Question: Have you decided to do NaNoWriMo this November? Why or why not? If so, what are you hoping to get from it?
I probably should do a novel, but I don't really know if I would have enough material for 50k words. I do have my other projects though, so at least I'm getting something done.
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