November 1st begins one of my favorite months of the years. Not only is it officially the start of the holidays for me (Thanksgiving, anyone? My favorite holiday. All the food! YES, PLEASE. Oh, and let’s not forget Christmas! Then there’s Valentine’s day, and… President’s day… Anyway.) It’s also NANOWRIMO! NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month, happens every November. Thousands of writers all over the world set out to write a 50k novel in 30 days.
I’ve decided that this year, I’m really going to commit. I had originally wanted my word-count goal to be 50,000 words, but since I’ll be out of town for ten days (don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining! I’ve been waiting to go on this cruise since January!), I lowered it to 30,000 – which means if I don’t write while I’m out of town and write every other day I’m at home, I’d only have to write about 1,578 words a day – which is like a chapter for me, since my chapters typically range from 1500-2000 words.
I first heard about NaNoWriMo through Heather Vogel Frederick (one of my all-time favorite authors!) three years ago through her blog. I took a composition notebook and filled it with plans for my novel – a sci fi novel about a girl who found out she was born on Jupiter. (I mean, really, what was I thinking?! I’ve never even read sci-fi, much less write it!) I’m pretty sure I read a blog post encouraging writers to step out of their comfort zone and write something different. Needless to say, I finished it in that composition notebook and I’ve no idea what happened to it.
Last year I didn’t even reach my goal, but this time around…
Yes, I have a plan. And this year I’m going to complete my word-count goal.
I’ve even been reading some blogs with some awesome NaNo/Writing tips… Tessa at Christ is Write wrote 10 tips to prepare for NaNoWriMo, Cait at The Notebook Sister shares her sneaky secrets to writing 10,000 words in one day, and Shannon, Jill, and Stephanie are always sharing some awesome tips at Go Teen Writers – but this week they’ve been talking about where to begin when writing a novel. (I dare you to go check out Go Teen Writers! It’s a gold mine for writing tips, I promise!) And, of course, the Young Writer’s Program for NaNoWriMo is always posting loads of writing prep on the blog.
Are any of you guys participating in NaNoWriMo this coming month? Let me know in the comments below!
YAY MORE LUCY GIFS! LOL. 😀
How do participate NaNo WriMo? sounds like fun!
Cool a cruise!? Where you headed to? are you going to read Home for the holidays? 😉
OF COURSE! I knew you’d like that! 😀
Well, you can start by signing up at ywp.nanowrimo.org – there’s all sorts of stuff there, including online workbooks, consistent blogs, and a world-wide support group on the forums. There’s SO much more than that, though, so go check it out! I’ll probably be posting more info on NaNoWriMo soon!
I’m going to the Caribbean! I’m INSANELY excited. I thought about bringing it with me! I may have to re-read it, I remember reading about Megan and Becca’s trip and obsessing over cruises. 😉
OMIGOSH I’m so excited for NaNo! I am on the Young Writers Program to (add me as “Samantha3”). I’m setting my goal to 50 000 words this year, since I have a pretty free November. Have a great writing time!
Ooh, I’m going to add you write now! I’m EmilyLynn13! 😉
I’m doing NaNo for the third time this year too!! It’s going to be so much fun, I can’t wait. I may be sliiiiightly crazy for attempting it this year, because November is ridiculously busy…but I guess I am the Loony Teen Writer 🙂
Oh, what a coinkydink! 😉 I can’t wait, either! Haha, that you are!
This is going to be my first year doing NaNoWriMo!! 🙂 I’m definitely not going to go to 50,000, but I’m excited anyway!
Hmm, I’m still not sure about it. I only just learned about it this year, through an amazing writing website youngwriterssociety.com
Every member was like, “Time for NaNoWriMo!” And I’m like, “What is that?”
I doubt I’ll ever reach 50k that fast (I’ve hit 20,ooo in my novel just yesterday, and it’s taken me 3 months!)
Good luck! Tell me how it goes and have fun on that cruise! ^_^