Last year during November, I took part in NaNoWriMo for the first time. This November, I will be taking part once again—along with over 400,000 writers around the world.
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a wild, fast-paced creative writing event, which challenges all participants to write 50,000 words of the first draft of a novel in just 30 days. That’s 1,667 words (or about 6.5 double-spaced typed pages) per day.
You might be thinking to yourself, “Why? Why are you doing this? Won’t it be hard? Won’t you get frustrated/tired/overwhelmed?”
NaNoWriMo is an intense event. But it energized me last year. I loved the challenge of it—the pressure of the deadline. Plus, all those writers working at the same time, encouraging each other to finish within a month was just the extra push I needed to accomplish my goal.
Writing is a mostly solitary endeavor. No one (except another writer) understands the hours of work involved to fulfill this writing dream.
Join In the Event
Perhaps you’d like to join in NaNoWriMo this year. It’s not too late. So, it is already November 7th. So, what? You still have twenty-three days left, twenty-four if you start today.
23 Days of 1,667 words/day = 38,341 words
24 Days of 1,667 words/day = 40,008 words
Far more words than you would have written if you did not accept the challenge. If you’re interested, you can sign up at nanowrimo.org. Or, if you’re under 18, you can sign up on the Young Writers Program site at ywp.nanowrimo.org.
NaNo Rebels
You may be thinking, the challenge is to write at least 50,000 words, not less than. True. Many people use this month as inspiration to accomplish other writing goals: poems, short story compilations or some other shorter project (blog post series anyone?). Or they may use this month to revise previously written words or even for non-fiction work. These people are called NaNoWriMo Rebels.
This year I am a rebel. I am revising a manuscript. Therefore, I can not keep track of my word count. It would be impossible. Instead I am keeping track of my hours. My goal is to finish by November 30th when I will hand off my manuscript to my editor. Yikes!
Whatever is happening in your life today—writing goals or otherwise—I hope you’ll take appropriate steps to make your good dreams a reality.
Tell me about your healthy steps in the comments below. We can encourage each other.
Until next time . . . Travel Light,
SuZan
© 2019 SuZan Klassen
SuZan Klassen 
You go, girl!
Thank you!!!