Today is Halloween which means tomorrow is November 1st and marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is an annual event that brings people across the globe together in pursuit of one goal: write a 50,0000 word novel in 30 days. Simple as that.
My friend in New Mexico has completed several NaNoWriMo's in the past and this year she has persuaded me and a few other friends to give it a whirl. Writing an entire novel in one month is a ridiculous proposition so the more people you know who are indulging in this insanity with you, the better off you will be. I dearly hope I can keep up with the ladies in our cross-country writing group, even if my novel does devolve into a fantastical imagining of people turning into parrots and chasing unicorns (a plot my friend is strongly urging me to pursue, despite my protests). NaNoWriMo seems incredibly stressful, but it is ultimately just a fun and challenging pursuit and hopefully you can revel in completing it at the end of the month.
Throughout the month, the wonderful people responsible for this crazed idea will send out encouraging e-mails, remind you to back up your novel, and give you lots of tips and pointers if you're in the midst of agonizing writer's block. If you're lucky enough to live somewhere with a regional NaNoWriMo group, you can look forward to parties at the beginning, middle, and end of the month. So if nothing else you will discover a bunch of writers you can either celebrate or commiserate with depending on how your month goes.
Aside from discussing NaNoWriMo, the reason for this post is to inform you, dear readers, that I will likely be in absentia for much of this month. As I will be furiously scrabbling to meet my daily word counts and hit that elusive goal of 50,000, I won't have much time for blogging. Of course, if the novel starts giving me a headache or tangles me up in various plot points, I'll pop back on the blog to write a procrastinatory note about something or the other. If you want to check on how I'm doing, you can search for me on the website (my username is shlokes) and see if I've made any headway.
Head on over to nanowrimo.org and consider if you want to give it a try. Yes, if you decide to do it you will have to get started tomorrow, presumably without a plot or any idea in place. But if you're stuck, just start writing about parrots and unicorns and maybe one day you'll be heading on stage to claim your Hugo award.
My friend in New Mexico has completed several NaNoWriMo's in the past and this year she has persuaded me and a few other friends to give it a whirl. Writing an entire novel in one month is a ridiculous proposition so the more people you know who are indulging in this insanity with you, the better off you will be. I dearly hope I can keep up with the ladies in our cross-country writing group, even if my novel does devolve into a fantastical imagining of people turning into parrots and chasing unicorns (a plot my friend is strongly urging me to pursue, despite my protests). NaNoWriMo seems incredibly stressful, but it is ultimately just a fun and challenging pursuit and hopefully you can revel in completing it at the end of the month.
Throughout the month, the wonderful people responsible for this crazed idea will send out encouraging e-mails, remind you to back up your novel, and give you lots of tips and pointers if you're in the midst of agonizing writer's block. If you're lucky enough to live somewhere with a regional NaNoWriMo group, you can look forward to parties at the beginning, middle, and end of the month. So if nothing else you will discover a bunch of writers you can either celebrate or commiserate with depending on how your month goes.
Aside from discussing NaNoWriMo, the reason for this post is to inform you, dear readers, that I will likely be in absentia for much of this month. As I will be furiously scrabbling to meet my daily word counts and hit that elusive goal of 50,000, I won't have much time for blogging. Of course, if the novel starts giving me a headache or tangles me up in various plot points, I'll pop back on the blog to write a procrastinatory note about something or the other. If you want to check on how I'm doing, you can search for me on the website (my username is shlokes) and see if I've made any headway.
Head on over to nanowrimo.org and consider if you want to give it a try. Yes, if you decide to do it you will have to get started tomorrow, presumably without a plot or any idea in place. But if you're stuck, just start writing about parrots and unicorns and maybe one day you'll be heading on stage to claim your Hugo award.
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