It starts today: National Novel Writing Month.
Known affectionately as NaNoWriMo, it’s a month long event for aspiring novellists based on the writer’s-block-busting principle that quantity is king.
The aim for participants is to pump out 50,000 words in the the 30 days of November, starting at 12:01am on 1 November and finishing at midnight on 20 November.
It was founded in 1999 by frustrated US writer Chris Baty as a cure for his and his writer friends’ critical approach to their writing so that they could just finish something.
And apparently it works, because the NaNoWriMo website membership has swelled to 90,000 aspiring authors gunning for the biggest word count this year. Plus, there are success stories galore, with writers having bashed out first drafts of novels and subsequently tweaked and refined it into something that publishers are interested in.
I’m attempting the monster task of writing almost 1700 words per day for the first time this month. Considering I also write for a living, write the odd piece for this column, as well as everyday correspondence and my journal, that’s a whole lot of writing going on!
I have a plot outline ready, have done some research and know my cast of characters fairly well. I think I’m about as prepared as possible.
Let's into the breach — typing starts tonight!
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You can help NaNoWriMo to continue helping people find their novel voices by donating anything from $10 upwards on their donations page.
