November is almost here, which means it is finally starting to feel like fall in Las Vegas, my vegan turkey roll from Vegetarian Plus is waiting in my freezer for Thanksgiving, and NaNoWriMo is about to begin.
NaNoWhatMo?
If you haven’t heard of NaNoWriMo (the catchy nickname for National Novel Writing Month) let me introduce you to one great big motivation for finally writing your book.
The basic concept of NaNoWriMo is this:
Write a 50,000 word first draft of a new book between November 1 and November 30
Yep, you read that right. 50,000 words. In one month. On a totally new book!
Between the peer pressure of announcing your project goal and sharing your word count in public and the intrinsic motivation of an external deadline, NaNo can be magic for your muse.
If you’re down with that idea, you can sign up for free at nanowrimo.org.
Be sure to add me as a buddy, so we can cheer each other on.
My NaNo Past
I’ve won NaNoWriMo (winning means writing the 50,000 word draft in the month) twice before.
Once with a book I was afraid to write. I still haven’t decided what I want to do with that book, but it felt SO GOOD to finally get it out of me.
Once with a book I wasn’t motivated to write. I haven’t done anything with that one either. Mainly because I’m not actively continuing my chick lit series right now.
I’ve stutter-started a couple of times, announcing a project that I wasn’t really ready to write and expecting the process to somehow magically make it happen. It didn’t.
This year will be different.
My NaNo Plans
The book I’m writing isn’t one I’ve necessarily been afraid to write. More like… intimidated by? It involves a fair amount of research and has an almost infinite number of ways it could be written. I’ve gone around and around in my mind a million times with the possibilities.
But I’ve made my decision about the direction of the story. Now I just need to sit down and write the words.
Enter NaNo.
I’m jumping in with both feet and a blindfold on. I’ve done some preliminary outlining and character development and made a playlist to keep me in the mood. That’s it.
An idea of the beginning. A foggy idea of the ending. Not much in-between.
I’m just going to start on page one and follow the characters wherever they lead. I hope they’re planning to head somewhere fun!
Track Your Words
Part of the fun (and magic) of NaNo is watching your word count climb, day by day. That’s why I created a pair of free word count trackers.
You can get it as a digital spreadsheet or printable PDF.
I hope they help!
Happy writing!!!