NaNo is around the corner

From NaNo Website

So who out there is doing the NaNoWriMo this year?  You have five more days to sign up.  This will be my third year at it.  And yes, I am crazy for even attempting this at all this year with all the other stuff on my plate.  But we haven’t had an offer on the house yet, so if that doesn’t happen soon, we’ll have to face the fact we’re here another winter.

I always hibernate in the cold months anyway and I love a challenge that exercises my mind.  There’s no winning or losing in this contest and I can set the times I write.  The challenge is accomplishing 50,000 words during the month of November.  If you can manage this, you’ll come out with a nice first draft for the beginning of a new novel.  I say that because I always add to the story as it’s never finished.  Then I take on the task of polishing it out.

Anyone who hasn’t tried this should.  It’s a great discipline to write daily.  Of course most of it will probably be crap, but you’ll have something in there you can use to create an interesting story.

If you are participating this year, create character profiles now and jot down bits and pieces for your plot line.  This will make it a bit easier if you really get stumped along the way.  That’s all I do and then let my imagination take over.  At least in the end I’m somewhat on track and didn’t get too far off the path with the story I have in mind.

And remember, there are NO winners and losers.  Everyone is a winner because they wrote something during November.  If you fall behind, don’t give up!  Keep going because you’ll still have a good start to a novel at the end of November.

And resist the temptation to edit anything.  Don’t read what you’ve written, just keep going.  You can’t edit – ever - until you’ve reached the end of your novel. 

Find a quiet place and time to write daily when you won’t be distracted or disturbed.  Writing should be a reward you can’t wait to get to and not a chore you have to do.

To sign up go here: Write a novel in 30 days

All you need now is a working title and short synopsis.  All the writing doesn’t start until November first.  Good luck.