NaNoWriMo – why not give it a go?

So here we are again… bit short of time this week – been packing my case for nine day of fun party-time in Liverpool at International BeatleWeek… but here’s a little bit of something I wanted to share.

Every year, every November to be precise, a literary event take place known as NaNoWriMo – short for National Novel Writing Month, and – as the name suggests – it’s a challenge to write a novel in a month. Impossible you might think? Surprisingly not.

The idea is pretty simple – you sign up and have a go at writing 50,000 words in just 30 days. That might sound like a lot – and yes it is – but it is also quite achievable if you really want to.

In 2013 I decided to give it a go. I had the idea in my head for Assaie’s Gift, in fact it had been there for some time and I just needed the motivation to MAKE me write… Nanowrimo seemed like the perfect catalyst to get me going. And it worked!

Any one who writes, or wants to write, knows that procrastination is the curse of the writer, it’s all too easy to just put things off or if you DO get started the curse of editing/rewriting as you go along can really slow you down.

With Nano you don’t have the time to edit, or stop, you just write. Get those words down on paper (or rather screen) and worry about your spelling, editing, even plot holes, once you’ve hit the target.

What do you get out of this? No, there isn’t any great prize, some supporters do offer discounts on their products and such like for winners, but the real reward is achieving your goal, getting that book out of your head and maybe even manage to get yourself a real printed version which, even if it is the only printed copy ever to exist, is a pretty amazing things to get your hands on.

So, if you want to write but can’t quite get going then sign up to Nanowrimo – after all what have you got to lose? And just maybe you’ll get those 50,000 words down.

If you do it’s pretty cool! 🙂