Every November, a movement called NaNoWriMo grips the world of would-be novelists. This a kamikaze attempt to write 50,000 words of a brand new novel in 30 days, starting November 1 at midnight, and ending at 11:59pm on November 30. Looking for motivation and inspiration to write? Check out the website here.
The idea is to kill the evil editor in your brain who tells you that your writing is crap and just get 50,000 words on the page (that's less than 1700 words a day, every day of the month), regardless of quality. That's a short, 175 page novel. There are forums on the site, where you can share tales of your carpal tunnel. At the end of the month you send them your 50,000 words, where their computers count the words, then declare you a winner and send you a certificate. No one actually reads your novel, but you can post excerpts for your fellow writers if you like. It's a great motivational tool. Published novels have come out of the event.
Should I do it? I do have a job, for crying out loud. But I do have the outline of a novel that's screaming to be written. 50k words is about the right lenghth for a YA novel like mine...
2 comments:
I vote that you should do it. It will push you to get the core concept on paper. You can come back and edit it later if you want. Sometimes having externally imposed deadlines forces, errrr...helps, us to reach our goals. You could even set intermediate milestones like food rewards every 10,000 word or something like that. I'm sure you'll have fun with it and worst case will spend all Thanksgiving writing up a storm!
Thanks - I just signed up and will give it a whirl. What do I have to lose? I do function better under deadline, and even if I don't make the 50k words, I'll still be further ahead than I would otherwise.
I love the food reward idea. Hmm. If I could just find a place in LA that has malasadas...
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