Quite some time ago now I entered National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The first time I wasn’t really prepared and failed miserably but the second time, in 2013, I managed to win. I even completed it with a whole day to spare.
For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is a where writers, from across the globe, spend the month of November writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Easy-peasy you say. That’s only 1666.66 words a day, you say. Well I found it hard to achieve as life has a habit of getting in the way and it’s easy to fall behind. I’m still proud of my efforts, although the 51,106 words are still sitting on my hard drive awaiting attention.
When I eventually do return to my November 2013 labours I’ll have a basis of the novel already written, after some editing and adding, of course. Another great thing about the experience is the knowledge that there are thousands of other writers, out there, feeling the same pressures. I know from some of the comments I received to my blog post at the time. Also some of the answers I gave to the comments I got.
There are local, to you, groups who meet throughout the month of November, in coffee shops, who work together for a few hours or just enjoy the experience of talking about their project. I also had a really good writing buddy, who I met via the site. (I mean met digitally, we never actually met face to face) and she was a great source of encouragement to me. I think that I was to her too
If you are considering joining the thousands of other, like-minded writers then head across to the NaNoWriMo website
It’s a great experience and every year since I’ve thought ‘Shall I do it again this year?’
Maybe I will
My Write 