November is just around the corner and that means it is time for National Novel Writing Month, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo. Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, first organized this event in 1999 with twenty-one participants in the San Francisco Bay area. The basic premise is that participants write a novel in 30 days.
How many of us say to ourselves "Some day, I should write a book". Like many of the some days in life, this dream gets put off until later. NaNoWriMo will kick start your writing dreams. 50,000 words in 30 days is a firm deadline to get your creative juices flowing. No more waiting until you are older and have more time, wiser or have achieved literary enlightenment.
Creative pursuits are the things all of us dream about but never find the time to engage in. With your boss reminding you that this months sales target is not met, or the kids needing a ride after the school basketball game, or the car due for servicing -- well no wonder our creative selves get trampled by day to day basic existence. I know this first hand - I heard about NaNoWriMo three years ago from my husband. At that time, my life was comprised primarily of a career that kept me on the road 60% of the time as well as extensive family responsibilities. While I appreciated my husband encouraging me to engage my creative side, I pretty much dismissed the idea of writing a novel in 30 days for variety of reasons which I now see were the usual obstacles my subconscious throws up when I'm challenged to go outside of my typical comfort zone.
So, what does 50,000 words really look like? Depending upon the font and size of the page, it's about 175 pages. Great novels that are approximately 50,000 words include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Now don't get me wrong -- I know that my first go around at NaNoWriMo is not going to produce a great literary work which brings anyone to tears. Having a deadline of 30 days will result in a 50,000 word rough draft. To achieve the deadline, I won't have time to worry about the plot, character development or great dialogue. The idea is quantity over quality; I will have to embrace a level of enthusiastic imperfection and just go with it. My daily quota will equate to about 1667 words - the average person can type this quantity of words in a two hour period.
Very doable, right? Wish me luck, and if you want to join in, check out www.nanowrimo.org to get started!
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