Yup, it’s November, and that means colder weather, Thanksgiving, lots of men growing mustaches, and novels!
In case you haven’t already heard of it, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s an insane (but fun) marathon of writing. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, but you can tweak it to your own wants or needs. One woman I follow on Twitter, @KellyKingman, started her own goal of writing blog posts instead of a novel. Her idea has a large following, complete with its own hashtag (#contentpalooza) and Facebook group.
If you’ve ever wanted to write a novel, or even just a bunch of short stories, poems, blog posts, or songs, NaNoWriMo is a great way to get started (and finish!). With a NaNoWriMo Twitter account, another Twitter account for word sprints, forums, a Facebook Page, and a huge community tweeting with the #NaNoWriMo hashtag, there is no lack of encouragement, ideas, and comaraderie.
NaNoWriMo runs for the entire month of November. Too late to get started now? Nonsense! There’s no minimum word count per day (50,000words/30 days= 1,667 words/day, but that’s merely a guideline, not a hardset requirement.). And there’s plenty of incentive to participate: besides all the above-mentioned goings on, “winners” (those who reach their 50,000 word goal) get a t-shirt from the NaNoWriMo store!
One last thing: Scrivener, an awesome writing software program for Mac and Windows, is offering a special trial version just for NaNoWriMo participants. And at the end of NaNoWriMo, winners will get a 50% discount on the price of program! Talking about winning!
So grab your pen/keyboard/hammer and chisel, head on over to NaNoWriMo.org for more information, and get started. I’ll see you all at the finish line!
