November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and I’m gearing up to join the crazies who will write 50,000 words in 30days!
First timer here. Anyone out there a veteran?
To get ready:
- I signed up on their site
- I also signed up as a teacher on the Young Writers Program of NaNo
- I interviewed Tavia Stewart, Young Writers Program Director, for tips on how to keep the kids (read: me!) motivated through the month (article to appear on-line soon!)
- I asked a municipal liaison (AKA local NaNo volunteer) to give a pep talk to my group on Nov 1
- I posted on a few forums on their sites
- I have two books on hold at the library: No Plot? No Problem? by Chris Baty and Book in a Month: the fool-proof system for writing a book in 30 days by Victoria Lynn Schmidt.
- Reading all I can on prepping for and surviving NaNo. Check out this great article by Victoria Lynn Schmidt on Wow! Women on Writing Blog. And go here to download a FREE handbook: 30 Tips for 30 Days, by Devon Ellington.
I’ll post more as I come across them, but be forewarned: November will be me writing like crazy (and hopefully posting my experience here daily!)
Any more tips? Post here!
2 Comments
October 13, 2008 at 4:43 pm
First time for me as well and I’ve decided to blog everything at the same time, if the NaNo task itself wasn’t enough.
For me any writing has to be reasonably plotted otherwise I get bored or lost. NaNo is the same. I know it’s not quite in the spirit of things, but the spirit is really just about writing 50,000 words.
Good luck and get those fingers ready to type real fast.
October 13, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Good luck to you , too, Leigh! My problem will be pulling the reins in on the inner editor. I’m such a perfectionist.