The first time I heard
someone say "NaNoWriMo," I said "gesundheit."
Or pictured a Pokemon character.
Or thought they were having a stroke. I don’t honestly remember the exact form my confusion took—I
just know I had no idea what they were talking about.
So I found out.
NaNoWriMo stands for
National Novel Writing Month. And
that month happens to be November.
Every November, thousands
of people of all ages challenge themselves to write a novel (or at least 50,000
words of it) in 30 days. It’s free
to sign up, and if you do, you become inducted into a club of sorts, a
community of writers all striving toward the same goal. There are online forums in which to
discuss issues, in-person workshops to attend in cities all over the country,
and various tools, apps, and reminders to help you along the way.
Or so I’ve heard. I wouldn’t know (yet) because I have
never done it. Until now.
The purpose of this blog
post is to announce that, come November 1st, I will be diving into
the world of NaNoWriMo.
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| My writing table |
For better or for worse,
this November I’ve decided to tackle the young adult novel that’s been swimming
around in my head for two years.
Even though I’m going out of town twice
during the month. Even though the
longest thing I’ve written this month is a 3,000-word short story. Even though the task of
putting-my-butt-in-a-chair-and-writing THAT MUCH scares me a little. Or maybe because it does.
I haven’t done much so
far. I’ve signed up, I’ve entered
the name of my novel (the working title is No
Pause Button) and I’ve posted a synopsis and excerpt, all of which you can
read here. Since then I have
received a steady stream of emails which have succeeded in making me feel
behind in something that hasn’t even truly started yet.
[Side note: It reminds me of when my husband and I
were planning our wedding. He
proposed to me, and we promptly set a wedding date for six months away. Then, a week later, we bought a wedding
planner, and inside was a list of things I needed to do six months in advance, and
seven months in advance, and eight months in advance, and nine months in advance… I’m pretty sure that’s when I had my first
wedding-related panic attack. The
next one was in a movie theater during a showing of New Moon (the second movie in the Twilight Saga), but that’s another story.]
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| This could be a problem. |
Anyway, one of these
anxiety-inducing emails said, “Keep your friends and family
apprised of your progress,” and encouraged me to “establish an inner circle.” Well, welcome to the inner circle,
people. By reading this blog post,
you have agreed to support me, cheer me, hound me, and (anytime you see me
Facebook-ing, rearranging my bookcase,
or walking the dog more than twice a day) yell at me to get back to work. However, in order to ensure that we’re
still friends after this is over, you should alternate the yelling with the
sending of coffee, chocolate, and pictures of kittens dangling from trees with captions
like “Hang in there.”
So… that’s pretty much
it. I am embarking on a literary
journey. If anyone out there wants
to participate with me, please let me know! We can procrastinate together…er, I mean WORK together. Work hard.
Wish me luck!
[Note: This blog post is 592 words long, which
means in November I just have to do this 84 times and everything will be
fine. !!!]
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