NaNoWriMo!

In a scant three days is National Novel Writing Month!

Shortened to NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month is a fun way to try jump starting the novelist in you by writing a 50,000 word novel (about 175 pages) between November 1st and midnight on November 30th.

That's roughly 1,667 words a day.

This isn't to write a masterpiece. It's not about a high quality story at all. This is about sitting down and writing. Fast. Hard. No editing. No rewriting. Just 50,000 words in a story.

You write it and then upload the story before the deadline for verification. You don't win anything more than a certificate and the knowledge of knowing that you have "won"...while it's easy to cheat, the people who do in this contest are really pitiful.

Another benefit lay in the act of writing each day. You gain some discipline in the act of setting a goal in word count and having to nail it each day to meet the goal. Sometimes novels that started from NaNoWriMo. For example, JC Hutchin's 7th Son started as a NaNoWriMo entry. At least, I believe that's what I heard in the "Get Published" podcast interview with J.C. The NaNoWriMo site has a list of some of the novels published as a result of participation in the festivities.

Now, of course there are detractors. NaNoWriMo focuses on setting goals and hitting deadlines, not refining the craft of writing. And perhaps these people who shake their heads in disappointment at the idea of NaNoWriMo have a point; it flies in the face of those who work hard at refining the craft of writing, reducing it to little more than a marathon with a line to be crossed rather than an art of telling a good story.

Personally if you're the kind of person that thrives on a deadline to accomplish a goal then NaNoWriMo isn't a bad thing. It might help encourage people to pursue their writing dreams. Is that necessarily bad?

There's no fee to enter. No penalty for "failing". Just sign up, write like crazy, and if you make it, you get a certificate. Let your inner novelist out to play a little.

(My wife is planning on trying to write 50,000 words this November. I'm not; I have a story I'm working on now, and part of the contest rules state you must start the novel on the first. Outlines, notes, etc. are okay beforehand, but the novel itself must start on the first, and I am not willing to suspend the story I'm working on now in order to start a new one for November and risk losing my momentum.)