NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month. It was founded by Chris Baty in 1999 and has taken off from there. The goal is to write an entire 50,000 word novel over the course of 30 days. Sounds completely insane…right? Well, about a week ago I decided that I wanted to get in on the NaNoWriMo bandwagon and quickly realized that the actual camp occurred in July and November. At first, I was a little disappointed that I would have to wait until November to participate, but then after a little thought, I decided that I would do my own month of writing, but was a little discouraged that I would be taking it on all by myself.

That evening I decided to post a little blurb about it on Instagram. In the blurb, I encouraged others to join me and by the end of the day, I had two others wanting to join in on the fun. As of this morning, there are six of us ready to put pen to paper. In less than 24 hours our 31-day writing frenzy will commence. Having other writers wanting to do this with me will definitely make this difficult task seem a little easier and it will also force me to remain accountable. I am hoping that they feel the same way.

For me, this writing journey began when I was just a little girl but did not really take off until the beginning of this year. When I first started working on my current WIP I had set a first draft completion date of, September 1st, 2019; which is also my 40th birthday. This is truly what spurred on my desire to participate in the 50,000-word extravaganza. My current manuscript sits at 15,340 words and adding 50,000 would definitely complete the first draft. What a perfect way to lead up to my 40th birthday…What could go wrong?

Since I decided to take on this monumental task I figured I should do some research and came across a book titled: No Plot? No Problem! A LOW-STRESS, HIGH-VELOCITY GUIDE TO WRITING A NOVEL IN 30 DAYS. This novel was written by none other than Chris Baty. I had stumbled onto the perfect book. And the perfect book it is. If you are going to attempt to write an entire novel or add 50,000 words to your current manuscript, I suggest that you delve into this book first. It really walks you through the process from beginning to end. It provides some writing exercises that you should do leading up to the first week and also gives some invaluable hints, tips, and testimonies from previous NaNoWriMo winners.

With less than 24 hours till go time, I still feel ready to get at it with a little touch of intimidation considering almost 16,000 words took me six months. I am positive that as long as I push myself to the limit and hit my daily word count goals then my first draft will get completed by day 30. For those of you who have completed a NaNoWriMo what hurdles did you face? Did you finish early? If you are like me and are just now hearing about NaNoWriMo, is this something that you would ever consider doing or does it sound completely bat shit crazy?

On that note I am going to close out this post with this quote written by Patricia C. Wrede:

“In fact, ‘talent’ is as common as mud. What’s rare is the motivation to sit down and actually do something with one’s talent, the discipline to do it regularly, and the persistence to stick with it until it’s finished.”