NaNoWriMo: aka WRITE ALL THE WORDS!!!

Please forgive me if today’s post is a short, hot mess. I’ve spent the past week participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and today was a long, writing filled day.

You might have noticed that Amy’s Writing Bloody Post this week was about her 2015 NaNoWriMo plan. Or maybe you’ve seen the hashtags #NaNoWriMo or #DoubleUpDay trending on twitter? One thing is for sure, if you are anywhere on the Internet where writers hang out, you’ve heard about NaNoWriMo.

But what exactly is NaNoWriMo? In the simplest of terms it is a month where all of the writers on the Internet get together and each try to write a novel in just 30 days. 50,000 words is the goal and twitter or nanowrimo.org are the places to go for support—whether its participating in writing sprints, crying when the writing gets tough, or celebrating milestones reached.

This will be my fourth time participating in NaNo but like Amy I’ve never won either. I came really close in 2013, but I’ve never actually written 50,000 words in one month.

So why do I look forward to November with such fervor every single year then?

As stressful as it is, NaNoWriMo is a great month not only for writing motivation, but also for meeting other writers. Just look through the #NaNoWriMo hashtag and you will see so many people talking about their writing. NaNoWriMo 2013 was how I discovered one of my favorite writing communities in @frinightwrites #writeclub. Every November I find tons of new writers to follow many of whom I stay friends with through out the year.

And, of course, the best part of NaNoWriMo is that it gets me writing. Normally I’m lucky if I write 1,000 words in a week because I am the queen of procrastination. But, there is no time to procrastinate with NaNo so instead I find myself just writing no matter what for once. In this first week alone I’ve written 10,000 words! I probably end up writing more in November than I do the rest of the months combined.

November really has become my favorite month of the year thanks to NaNoWriMo (okay and because Christmas is coming and the weather here in Cali is finally beginning to cool down) and I hope that every writer gets the chance to take the plunge and participate at some point. If not for the challenge it presents than definitely for the fun.

Good luck to everyone participating this year and may your fingers fly across those keyboards this month!!!