NaNoWriMo
It’s October, and the sign-ups for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) have begun. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, NaNoWriMo is a challenge that’s been running for a few years now, where participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. That’s an average of 1,666 words a day!
I started NaNoWriMo in 2004. Every night for a week and a half, I typed out thousands of waffling words of a novel about a girl who was travelling across Canada. Every time I ran out of ideas, I had her move on to a new destination. And by that stage, my hands ached so much that I was finding it difficult to get my work done for the 9-5 job. So that was the end of my 2004 NaNoWriMo novel, and in truth, I haven’t looked at it since. That said, I think it was useful to have that attempt at writing a novel. In starting it, I began to learn the differences between writing a short story and a novel – differences that were going to be more and more significant over the next 12 months.
In November 2005, I had just finished writing the MA portfolio version of Lessons to Learn. In November 2006, I was travelling around Europe.
This year, I’ve got a project that I’m already working on. The rules of NaNoWriMo state that you need to start a new novel on the 1st of November, rather than work on an existing project. So I won’t be an official participant, but I’m hoping that the knowledge that so many people, all around the world, are also writing, the conversations on the message boards and a large quantity of M&Ms will spur me on to complete the first draft.
If you’re also participating in NaNoWriMo this year, or working on another project to another deadline, let me know, and perhaps we can cheer each other on.