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NaNoWriMo
Today is the day that zillions of writers all around the globe will begin their 50,000 word novel writing quest that is affectionately known as NaNoWriMo. You can’t be a blogger with the ambition to be a writer and NOT know what NaNo is. But in the event you don’t know, because not all bloggers want to be writers, November is National Novel Writer’s Month and writers take the month of November to complete a 50,000 word novel.
It’s not about quality, it’s about quantity. You can rewrite and edit in December, but November is all about just getting the words onto the paper. It’s a bat-out-of-hell way to write a book, and it’s motivating to write with a group (a HUGE group) of writers. The website is awesome, and if you succeed you get a certificate to print out and hang on your wall (mine is framed and in my office at work). You also get to brag for the rest of your life that you wrote a novel. How many people can say that?
I remember the day in October of 2005 when I stumbled upon the idea of National Novel Writer’s Month, it was on Raehan’s blog, and she was going to do it as was KJones. I thought, if they are doing it, surely I can too! So I dove into my novel, head first. At least I had a story that I’d been wanting to write for years, the characters were just begging to speak! I’d put my daughter to bed at 8 p.m., then stay up until 11 or even midnight to pound out as many words as I possibly could so that I could keep up with my daily quota of 1667 words. Before I knew it, my main character, Kate, took over my thoughts and I became the vehicle which typed out her actions. All day long I’d think about what my characters would do next, what would be their natural reactions? And by night time I was writing it.
I learned a few valuable lessons during NaNo, the first was to SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! My PDA crashed once and I lost about three chapters which I then had to recreate off the top of my head. My battery died on my laptop when my cat (the one that’s really a shark) chewed through my powercord and I didn’t know it was running on battery until it was DEAD. I’ve got so many copies of my novel floating around it’s not even funny, but I learned the hard way that losing my work really sucks.
I’m not writing this year, but maybe next year I’ll give it another try. With grad school I just don’t have the time. I’m dying to write another Kate Carson mystery though. There’s been a link to my novel at the top of my blog for a while now, but if you didn’t know and are interested in reading an excerpt here’s the link. Enjoy! And if you are doing NaNoWriMo I wish you the best of luck!
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4 Responses to “NaNoWriMo”
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wow, can’t believe it was that long ago. did you ever edit yours and i wonder if k jones ever finished his, because he owes me an ending.
This year I am participating in NaBloPoMo but maybe next year I’ll try for NaNoWriMo. I’ve had ideas in my head for stories for years and a few times I’ve started writing them but never finished. Maybe if I have the pressure to do it I can accomplish it.
Your story is awesome! I loved reading it. You should publish. I can totally see a series.
I’m still waiting on a published version of your book. And yes, you’ve got to write more!