National Novel Writing Month

The setup for NaNoWriMo at home, if I need to be portable. Long exposure lit by sweeping an LED flashlight over the scene. clickthing.blogspot.com/2008/10/tennish-anyone.html (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I write this, it is less than 24 hours until the start of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.  In less than a day, I will attempt once more to write at least 50,000 words in the month of November.  It is one of the most harrowing experiences anyone could take on, something just short of working at a television station on election night.  It is also one of the most fulfilling experiences that I have attempted, and one of the few things in my life I am actually proud of.

Needless to say, once NaNoWriMo starts, my daily posts may simply be relegated to posts of word counts and brief status updates.  Picks of the Week will also go on hiatus until the end of the month, or once I reach 50,000 words, whichever comes first.  If I follow the same progress rate as in the past, the 50,000 words will come first.

I may be able to sneak in a couple of Saturday Songs, but, depending on how my story goes, that is a bit iffy at best.

In the meantime, I wish everyone who is going to begin NaNoWriMo the best of luck.  This goes doubly so to those of you who are starting this month of intense writing after being impacted by Hurricane Sandy.  Having started NaNo last year in the dark thanks to a Nor’Easter, I can sympathize.  And to those of you who have been loyal followers of my blog, thanks for your understanding.  I’ll see you on the other side of the month.

Related articles

• Hey, Writers! NaNoWriMo is Back (hcplteenscene.org)
• The Pros and Cons of NaNoWriMo (onewaytowonder.wordpress.com)
• NaNoWriMo (lyssaproctor.wordpress.com)
• NaNoWriMo is Almost Here (writingfictionblog.com)
• The NaNoWriMo Preparation (writtennerd.wordpress.com)
• It’s nearly NaNoWriMo time (jhakkasperch.wordpress.com)

5 Things You Will Notice During NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo Day 8: Seclusion (Photo credit: mpclemens)

For those of you who have never done NaNoWriMo before, it can be an exhilarating experience.  Trying to make the 50,000 word count by the end of November is a big surge.  But, it can have some minor effects of your life that you may not have picked up on.

1. In November, you will notice that bloggers participating on NaNoWriMo may disappear.  Or, if they continue to post, their posts may end up being little more than, “Wrote 1,953 words today.  Damn I’m behind schedule.”
2. Participants may notice a drop in social activities since time spent hanging out with friends, or on dates, is time that can be spent writing.  Some people may even cut deals, promising an extravagant night out of their significant others would, respectfully, leave them alone in November.
3. Participants in NaNoWriMo may focus on their word counts almost as much as marathon runners will focus on their race times.  In fact, you may even hear two NaNo participants greet each other with, “What’s your word count?”
4. Any little quirky thing that happens when you are not writing has a high chance of ending up in your writing.  This is especially so if you are behind in your word count and you can somehow make a guy buying an Orange Julius at the Mall with pennies into your fantasy adventure about dragons.
5. When Thanksgiving rolls around, those of you with laptops will be praising their portability, while those who are writing on desktops will be wondering how fast you will need to type to get everything you hand wrote while your uncles watched the Lions and your mother cooks the turkey in the kitchen.

It’s Never Too Early For NaNo Dares

 

The National Novel Writing Month is now less than two months away.  Across the world, thousands (if not millions) of writers are starting to think about their November projects, about plots, themes, characters.

So, it seems appropriate to start thinking of the most important part of NaNoWriMo: how to boost your word count.  Many writers will rely on dares, often posted on NaNoWriMo’s website.  Some are elaborate, some just silly.

Naturally, I have some of my own dares to put forth.  Most of these have been drawn from my past NaNoWriMo projects, which I now put forth for your consideration.

NaNoWriMo – The Countdown Continues

As I write this, we are less than one week away from the National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.  At 12:00 midnight on November 1st, writers across the world will commence in what will undoubtedly be a month of frantic writing.

Preparing for NaNoWriMo Year 5

This year will be my fifth year participating in the National Novel Writer’s Month (or, NaNoWriMo).  Much like the previous years, I have grand plans for what I am looking to do with my project, though I know that this is probably the one that I would not even try to get published.  It has nothing to do with the quality of the project.  Lets face it, anyone who has done NaNoWriMo knows that whatever is written in November is a first draft… at best.  In the case of this year’s project, what I’m looking to write makes a lot of pop culture references… A LOT.

National Novel Writing Month – Common Problems And How I Faced Them

So you have decided to take part in the National Novel Writing Month event this November.  Great!  I wish you the best of luck, and hope you do not have to resort to using the full title of several books to bulk up your word count.

However, some of you who may be considering NaNoWriMo may be a bit hesitant to try.  You are wondering if you have what it takes.  You have other concerns about your stories and your characters.  That’s normal, everyone had them.  Even I did.  And it is quite possible to overcome every one of these concerns and complete your NaNoWriMo project.

Writing Update – September 6, 2011

Still no work on the rewrite.  It seems that my least favorite thing to do it to actually work on editing and rewriting things I have already written.

Even with working on the MDA telethon Sunday, I was able to get some world building done on this year’s NaNoWriMo, mostly because I always carry a notebook with me.  Granted, it is not much, but it is the brief description of four of the main characters, and some of the concepts for the book.  When I transposed them into OneNote 2010 (since I have an app for that on my iPod), I added in a rough idea of a villain and some more concepts.  More ideas pop in my head the more I think about it.  And with each new idea, it is very much apparent that this one will undoubtedly be pretty much a vanity peace since it is borrowing so much from a lot of different pop culture sources.  Heck, one of these ideas even includes two of the characters visiting an actual author because of an item in one of his book series.

I have also posted a couple more entries on my Coverage of the Dead fiction blog.  I still get the feeling from this that it isn’t quite working the way I was hoping it would, but I am committed to at least seeing this through a bit more to see if I’m right or wrong.