Tick-tock, tick-tock … Only two days til NaNoWriMo! Have you registered yet?
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo (nan-no-RYE-moe) for short, is an Internet-based creative writing project that challenges writers to pen 50,000 words in the month of November. The virtual event started in 1999 with fewer than two dozen writers and grew to an estimated 200,000-plus participants in 2010. As a sponsor of the 2012 NaNoWriMo, we at Outskirts Press are eager to get this month-long party started with record participation!
Have you always wanted
to write a novel? Are you currently a writer, but haven’t yet found the motivation to start your next project? Are you curious about what ideas might flow out of 30 days of intensive, stream-of-conscious creativity? With the event starting on November 1, there’s still time to register for the challenge of a lifetime, and even do some preliminary planning.
Though the NaNoWriMo challenge is designed so that the entirety of your writing is done between November 1 and November 30, you can still do some prep work. Choose your topic. Outline your plot. Ask your friends and neighbors for feedback and suggestions. Then dust off your keyboard and get ready to hit the ground running on Thursday.
Remember, in order to meet the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 in one scant month, count on averaging 1,667 words — roughly two hours of writing time — per day. Increase your daily weekday quota to 2,381 words if you plan to take weekends off.
Start your participation in the 2012 NaNoWriMo by joining a regional group so you can communicate with other participants, spitball ideas, share tips and gather wisdom from those who’ve successfully completed the challenge before. Many seasoned NaNoWriMo authors have valuable input that can help you plan and execute your project.
NaNoWriMo is a fantastic exercise for new authors to use as a kick-start to their writing efforts, or for experienced authors to loosen up and switch up to a more stream-of-consciousness style for a while — whatever gets the creative juices flowing. However, this month of crunch time can be more than a mere exercise. Many of the submissions to NaNoWriMo have gone on to get published! As a self-published author, the decision on whether to polish and publish your NaNoWriMo creation is solely in your hands.
