Almost November

OMG! It's almost November... and again, it's a very busy time with so many things to do - and that is a very bad thing, since I really, really would love to do another NaNoWriMo. It's been four years now since I've been a NaNo Winner, and I'd love to repeat that feat.

In case you haven't heard of it before, the idea behind NaNoWriMo - or the National Novel Writing Month - is to write a novel in a month. Yep. One Month. Just get it over with, like ripping off a band-aid.

Now you'd be correct in saying that this is insane, and you are probably right, but it's a very sweet kind of insanity that I can only recommend to everybody to at least try once. All you have to do is think of a rough idea for the opening of your novel, say, on October 31st, and then around midnight you open a new document on your computer and you start to type. Easy.

To "win" NaNoWriMo, you have to write 50,000 words in 30 days, or about 1666 words every night. it's not as hard as it sounds, and my only recommendations are:

• write daily
• write without editing
• don't plot ahead for more than one day's worth of writing

From my experience with several failed attempts after my first win, I can also tell you that plotting ahead and working along a frozen story arc is deadly for NaNo, since there is no time to think. It's all about having a strong idea for the opening and then let the characters do whatever they want.

So. Are you up for the challenge? Come on! There's kids taking part in this - it's not that hard to write 1700 words a day... it's probably going to take you about two hours every day for a month. Just cut down on TV and instead of wasting time on somebody else's fantasy, set your imagination free!