NaNoWri Challenge

What the heck is NaNoWri? November is National Novel Writer’s Month. The NaNoWri challenge is for all writers, published or not, to endeavor to write a novel of 50,000 words in a month’s period of time. Participants begin writing November 1 with a goal: to write 50,000 words, the equivalent of a 175 page novel, by midnight, November 30.

Because of the time constraints, this methodology is different than standard approaches to writing a novel. This tactic of writing is to get a simple stream of consciousness, continual flow of writing, and put your story to paper ~ the editing can come after the end of the month. It is a program that challenges anyone who has ever wanted to write a novel but shies away at the thought of the work and time involved. By writing under these time restrictions, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes, you are putting quantity over quality, but, at the end of the month, you will have put the story to paper. This breaks down the novel in a way that it is approachable.

Last year there were over 79,000 participants. Of these, 13,000 of them crossed the imposed deadline with the targeted 50,000 words. This year there are in excess of 90,000 participants. You may enter the challenge as a student, a bus driver, a secretary or teacher; perhaps you come from the retail industry or construction ~ it makes no difference ~ you walk away as a novelist. If you don’t finish by November 30, the NaNo police will not slap you around with a wet noodle or take your work in progress away, I promise you…but, you now have a work in progress. It’s an amazing feeling of accomplishment. Take up the personal challenge ~ you know there’s a novel in you somewhere ~ let it out. Join me at NaNo! Just a thought! :-)