Welcome to November

So, it is here, November is upon us. And while usually that means that fall is in full effect (just ignore the 60 degree temperatures outside), apparently it also means that it is National Novel Writing Month.

If you participate in NaNoWriMo (as those in the know call it), you are taking the month of November to attempt to write a 175 page novel (about 50,000 words). The idea is not to turn out the next great-American-novel, but rather just to write something, as they say on the site:

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

Which is totally my writing style. What works nicely is that this is totally deadline oriented, you have 30 days to pump out 175 pages, that comes to 5.83 pages a day, or 1666.67 words a day. You can take comfort in knowing that you are not alone in this endeavor though, in 2006 there were close to 80,000 participants, though only about 15% actually reached the finish line.

You can read about the history of NaNoWriMo on their site and also chat with others on their forum who might have the same writers block you are suffering (and it is only day one, tsk, tsk)… Just don’t end up like Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Hunter Thompson… Come to think of it, maybe writing isn’t such a great idea.