NaNoWriMo

I found something new… again.

An online friend pointed me to this site and challenge.  Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month?  They call it NaNoWriMo for short.  And the challenge is for you to write a novel in 30 days. 

The only requirement:    50,000 words

Sure, there are few other stipulations like you can’t use stuff you’ve already started, or copy something, but basically everyone who writes 50,000 words wins!  And all those words don’t even have to make sense. You can’t type the same word over and over again, but their definition of ‘novel’ is pretty loose – basically, whatever you say it is.

I thought it might be a fun challenge, and something I could get the kids into also.  They have a Young Writer’s Program where they set age appropriate goals for word counts and have some really cool resources for the kids.

You can also find local writing groups who organize write-ins where they all get together and write, I guess.  I haven’t been to one, but it sounds like fun because you have kind of a support group.

I don’t read novels and wasn’t really interested in writing one, never mind coming up with a story, but I read somewhere that “writing is the key to all wealth,” so I thought it would be good for me to get into the habit of writing.  Since I didn’t have a storyline in my head, the only place I could think of to get stories from is my childhood.  And I realized that there is a lot of material there.

So I just started writing about funny things that happened when I was a kid.  Things about my house, dog, friends, elementary school, my brothers, our pool, etc.  Plus my kids are always asking me what I did when I was young, so I thought it would be a good idea to get them down on paper.

If you divide 50,000 by 30 you get a daily quota of 1,667 words, so my goal was to hit the quota every day.  Well, I actually made it each day for the first 3 days.  I made it to 5001 words!  

Then, I fell off the bandwagon.  I’ve continued to write each day, but haven’t made the quota.  I’m hoping to catch up this weekend.

It’s still not too late to get started, you can join any time.  I know I should have posted this before I started, so you wouldn’t be so far behind, but I only found out about it 2 days before November.

Maybe if I get into the habit I’ll be able to post more entries in my blog.  In fact, I’ll probably create some as part of my ‘novel’.  It really is a mish mash of stuff, such as a little history or explanation about my family, crazy made up scenes that lead to an unbelieveable climax then end, some poetry, and streams of consciousness.  They say editing is for December.

Write, write, write!