Tuesday, November 01, 2011

NANOWRIMO

I've heard the term NANOWRIMO bandied around for years, have never participated, vaguely aware it involves writing a book in a month (or 50 000 words?)

This year has been manic for me.  In addition to writing my usual Harlequin books, I've written a YA adult novel and revised my first mainstream contemporary romance BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD 5 times!

Now, I'm reaching the end of the year, and I have another Harlequin book to write (no idea of plot yet!) and an 'out of the box' YA idea that won't be denied.

So just for the heck of it, I signed up to NaNo.

Why?  Because I've had great motivational success participating in #1K1hr on Twitter (where a bunch of random writers see if they can write 1000 words in an hour) lately.
Usually, I don't need the motivation. When I'm on deadline, I sit down at the PC every night and make sure I write 2000 words a day.
But after a busy year, that extra little boost can help and that's what I'm hoping NaNo will provide.
Frankly, without it, I don't think this book would get written. And if I even get 10 000 words out I'll be happy, because it's better than a blank page.

Some writers don't like the idea of speed writing. And that's just fine, we all work at different paces.
But if you do want to get those words flowing so you can go back and edit your draft later, NaNo is for you.

There's a fantastic series of NaNo tips over at STORYFIX.

And I have a SPEED WRITING article on my blog.

Whatever you decide to do, NaNo is all about the words.
Getting the words out, whether you achieve your goal or not. It's not about pressure or competing with people (though some do thrive under those conditions!)

It's about switching off your internal editor, getting creative, letting the words flow and having fun!

I wish you all flying fingers and many words over the next month.

So who's NaNo-ing alongside me?

2 comments:

Lacey Devlin said...

Excellent! I'm not NaNo-ing this year but now I can live vicariously through you ;-) Best of luck for 50K in 30 days!

Unknown said...

I am! I love doing NaNo. I once belonged to a writing community that did it in March. It was so much fun, I just had to sign up for it in November. I've been at it for three years now. So excited. I hope I make it! Good luck. Feel free to buddy me. youngmomx3