Monday, November 1, 2010

Nanowrimo


I was so excited to realize my blog day fell on Day 1 of Nano. Short for Nanowrimo. Which translates into National Novel Writing Month. Founded by Chris Baty and his friends who wanted to see what they could accomplish in a month if they really tried. It is for writers to set a goal to write 50,000 words on a novel in 30 days. You can find all the information at http://www.nanowrimo.org/


This will be my fourth year of participating. I love the thrill of trying to sit down and write so many words in one month. This month is really important to me, personally. I’m going to write a sequel to the published book I have coming out early next year. I want to see if I can plot out a book for a week or two and write it in a month. 50,000 words for me will be the whole book.
Lots of writers say they can’t do Nano because it is too intense, the holidays are coming, or for whatever reason. I don’t believe that. Nano is a great way to see what you can accomplish. It might not be the whole 50,000 words, but I bet if you try, you will have more words than you started at with on November 1, or you might surprise yourself and get the whole 50,000 or more.


Writers with deadlines don’t have the luxury of saying, “oh, it’s the holidays, I don’t have time to write.” If you are a beginning or intermediate writer Nano is a tremendous example of what writing under pressure is like, with the added bonus of releasing some of that pressure if you must. The only deadline you have is the one you set yourself. But let me warn you, Nano is very competitive. Once you start accumulating words, you want more and more. When you see how many your Nano buddies have, you want to stay up late or get up early and get more than them.


Will I see you there? You can find me under mrsgodiva. I’ll be working on Taming Brad, a contemporary romance. Here’s to all of us finding our 50,000 words.

15 comments:

Luanna Stewart said...

I'll be doing NaNo as Henlady. This will be my third time, with one "win" so far. I look at it as a personal challenge, to prove I can write 50K words that sort of make sense from beginning to end.

Jill James said...

Lu, sounds like a great reason to do Nano. Even if you don't 'win' you still win with more words than you started the month with.

Madeline Smyth said...

Best of luck!

P.S. Keep us updated on your word count.

Anonymous said...

Nice post. Here's to Nano and everyone participating.

Robin Covington said...

I'll be there (robincovington is my username) but I'm already worried that I bit off more than I can chew. I'm a NaNo virgin - we'll see how it goes.

Unknown said...

I've never done Nano, but FTH used to have something once a month where we had to commit to a certain number of words and reported each day's productivity. Good, bad or indifferent. I loved it.

That said, I'm in the throes of writing up a proposal for my editor to do a series focused on food and romance, so I'm pretty extended right now, but maybe next year.

Thanks for this post, Jill. Your enthusiasm is contagious.

Jill James said...

Madelyn, thanks.

Jill James said...

Robin, you'll do fine. It is really just to challenge yourself.

Jill James said...

Carolyn, good luck on your proposal. Food and romance go together like love and marriage.

Tonya Kappes said...

Good luck Jill! I know you can do it. I've only done it for one year,and that novel is getting published! I think Nano gives you a schedule and accountablility!

Nicola McKenna said...

I'll be signing up shortly for my second attempt at NaNoWriMo - boy have I learned a lot since last time! Severe morning sickness has just about eased and I haven't done a tap (literally) in 10 weeks. So although we're on day two of NaNo, I reckon I still have time to catch up. The 'threat' of this imminent arrival and the need to get published soon motivates me as much as the remaining 29 days, so I will tackle it with gusto!
My username is 'schmicola', best of luck to you all this year!
Good on you Tonya, nice to see your NaNoWriMo baby is getting published!

Jill James said...

Tonya, that one word says it all - accountability. We need that to continue to push forward on our writing.

Jill James said...

Nicola, it is never too late to start Nano. You play catch-up on the good days and relax on the bad days.

Josie said...

Best wishes on your writing. I'm currently trying to write 5,000 words a week, and sometimes I'm finding even this a struggle.

Jill James said...

Joanne, thanks. 5,000 a week is a nice total.