Here comes NaNoWriMo!

   You may or may not know that November is National Novel Writing Month, and that 300,000 people are expected to be joining in the epic task of attempting to write a 50,000 word novel in a month.  The idea behind NaNoWriMo is that with such a focus on output, your inner critic has no time to worry about the quality of what you're churning out. Editing is saved for another month, with November being about sheer plotting and word counts.

   Anyone who reaches the 50,000 word mark by the end of the month is dubbed a "Winner."  I have participated before, but I must admit I am no winner.  I tried it a few years ago, but as of that time, I hadn't written anything anywhere near that length, and my plot was not grand enough to fill such a tome(50,000 words isn't really a tome, it's actually a pretty short novel).  I think I'm a bit more prepared this year, as I wrote my first 30,000 word novella last spring.

   NaNoWriMo wasn't even on my radar this year until my husband started talking about how he was planning to participate.  At first I said that no, I did not appreciate such an intense deadline and that I write well under less pressure and yada yada.  But alas, I can only stand hearing about NaNoWriMo so many times(like 2) without deciding that I need to get in on all the fun/insanity.

   So what do you think?  Why not join me and let November be the month your novel gets written.  I'll be here, letting you know about my progress or rapidly deteriorating mental health.  If you're interested, be sure to head over to the NaNoWriMo headquarters, where everyone is getting pretty pumped for the kick-off.  With so many people, you can bet the forums are extremely active, and everyone's frantically getting their last-minute outlining and plotting done.  If you have no time for that, no worries, some NaNo'ers don't believe in preparation, so you'll be in good company.

   I just got my synopsis done and posted on my profile, and I'll share it here on Nov.1 so you know a little of what I've got up my sleeve for the month.  But note, I just decided I was participating three days ago, so the synopsis is a "working" model, and I don't exactly have a detailed, set-in-stone outline.  But that will be part of the adventure, I guess.  As American author Bernard Malamud said, "First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about."  Let's just hope he was right!