What is NaNo Writing Month?
You may have seen or heard people talking about NaNoWriMo, especially around September to November each year, and wondered what it was, or you may be an old hand like me who has done “it” every year since 2006. But what exactly is “it” that we do?
A brave, foolhardy, yet courageous writer sets out with tons of coffee, tea, snacks and a “do not disturb” sign to sit down on Nov 1 to write the first 1667 words of a novel. On Nov 2, they sit down and write another 1667 words, and if their inner critic has a gag tightly wrapped around their figurative mouth, and if the writer preservers — by November 30, that writer has written 50,000 words of a new fictional creation!
Is it ready to be published?
Hell, no! But it is an amazing achievement all by itself, and each novel is ready to have additions and to let the inner critic run wild editing and plot-hole-filling and turning it into something that could be published.
NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit organization that has programs that support writing fluency and education. Their website hosts more than a million writers, and they have NaNoWriMo like events through the year – scriptwriting, editing, young writers, etc.
From the NaNoWriMo website:
“NaNoWriMo is internet-famous. It’s community-powered (hello, Wrimos!). It’s hosted authors drafting novels like Water for Elephants, WOOL, and Fangirl. It’s a teaching tool and curriculum taught in 5,920 classrooms, and NaNoWriMo’s programs run year-round.”
Whatever you thought NaNoWriMo was, it’s more than that.
Come over and play. It takes about 2 hours a day and your family will forgive you… eventually.
