Skip to main content

It’s Almost Time for NaNoWriMo!


Is it that time already? I cannot believe that in one month, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) will be here again! I have attempted NaNo two times and never finished my NaNo novel. Nevertheless, I am hoping for the first time I will do just that! I cannot think of a better way to get this novel swimming around in my head and only outlined on paper finally written. Can you?

For those you do not know what NaNo is here is a brief synopsis:
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

To learn more visit http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano
 
For those who need some prep help, like me, a great place to do just that is though an activity at http://writing.com. It really helps to go into November knowing the storyline and having a feel for who your characters are. Trust me. I know this is why I never finished my other two novels during NaNo. I just didn’t know my characters, setting or fantasy world enough to finish. So try having an outline or your characters fleshed out. In the end, you manuscript will probably need less revision, too. This year's prep has helped introduce me back into writing. Even though I have been busy with Stories for Children (SFC) and other things, I have not really spent much time on my own personal writing for two years. Now with SFC up and running full swing . . . my life has become very crazy. However, I want to start writing my own stuff again. Not that I don’t mind being an editor, but I miss the creating and writing part of it.

So how will I do it? I don't know yet. However, I will be sharing the experience with you and I hope you will do the same.

Comments

  1. I've thought about doing this before, but never followed through. Output is not my strength. But, you never know until you try. You got me thinking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just got my account setup. Just need to add my bio. Hope you join us.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for visiting my blog and for leaving a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Writing Prompt Monday: The Challenge

The idea is too basically express yourself on paper, learn how to use your five senses, or build upon an idea. Think back to when you were in school, it used to only take your teacher saying, “Write a paragraph or one page composition on any subject you want.” This was all it used to take to get those creative juices flowing, but what about now? If you are like me and most writers I know, you have most likely experience the dreaded word “Writer’s Block” from time to time. Getting past this wide-eyed, blank page stare can be hard, and the flashing cursor does not help matters. What is a writer to do? Well it does not matter if you are a New York Best-selling author or an aspiring author, we all need a little creative boost from time to time and that is where my Writing Prompt Monday comes in. In my search for a writing prompt for this week, I came across a great site called Creative Writing Prompts . They have over 300 writing prompts to get your creative juices flowin...

Interview Friday with Author Maggie Lyons

Maggie Lyons was born in Wales and brought up in England before gravitating west to Virginia’s coast. She zigzagged her way through a motley variety of careers from orchestral management to law-firm media relations to academic editing. Writing and editing nonfiction for adults brought plenty of satisfaction but nothing like the magic she discovered in writing fiction and nonfiction for children. Several of her articles, poetry, and a chapter book have been published in the children’s magazines Stories for Children Magazine and knowonder! VS: I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today, Maggie. To get things started can you share what you do to help balance your writing life with your family life? Maggie: Very fortunately for me, I’m retired and my son left the nest some time ago. That doesn’t mean I have no other commitments, of course. In fact, I’m very busy as a freelance editor, but I do have the privilege of being able to control m...

Guest Post Wed: Journaling and Personal Growth

Personal growth is the hot topic of the day. You'll notice that nearly every magazine you see, no matter whether it targets men or women, has one thing in common with all the rest: at least one article encouraging some kind of personal growth. These articles tell you about "empowerment," about growing as a person, about controlling your destiny, taking your life in both hands, and following your dreams. Do you need a magazine to tell you to take control of your life? Certainly not! You know deep in your heart whether your life is under control and moving in the direction you want for yourself, or whether you need to take measures to enable that self-control. Here is where you can use journaling to encourage personal growth. Journaling is a very old practice. Logs and field notebooks have been used by scientists, explorers, and travelers for centuries. During the Renaissance of the 14th through 17th centuries, journaling was extremely popular, as a focu...