It's that time again. NaNoWriMo is gearing up - a little less than a week before it starts. This year will definitely be different - virtual write-ins, a plotted outline, and more.
What is NaNoWriMo?
In case you haven't read some of my past blogs, or you haven't seen other people posting about it, but NaNoWriMo is the short name for National Novel Writing Month. In November, writers spend the entire month writing a new novel with 50,000 words. At the time, NaNoWriMo was started, that was a typical novel length.
For traditional NaNo, you would write 50,000 words on an entirely new novel; you write a little over 1,500 words per day. You "win" by writing 50,000 words. There are fun write-ins, sprints, and prizes throughout the month.
Now, most NaNo writers don't start a new novel every time. They work on a continuing novel, or on several difference projects. I've done both.
I started participating in NaNo in college; I only did one year. Once we moved to Birmingham, I wanted to meet other writers and started participating again in 2016. In 2016, I worked on Trials. I didn't get complete it, but I did "win" NaNo. In 2017, I started TLD - and technically "completed" the book; however, I knew I needed to flesh parts out. In 2018, after having my son in September, my brain didn't do well concentrating on a full length novel, so I worked on the anthology - Deaf Tales - since they were shorter. Last NaNo (2019), I spent in combination of things - fleshing out TLD, writing more short stories, beginning Storm's rewrite, and working on the idea of this year's NaNo.
Plus, I've done some of the Camp NaNo. Mostly I use those for editing and fleshing out certain stories. These happen in April and July; it helps keep me writing throughout the year with specific goals.
Like last year, I'm making my own NaNo goals:
Write daily
Write 50,000 words
Join one sprint a week
The write daily will be the hardest one to achieve.
I've plotted more than I normally do for NaNo, but I wanted to try something different. I've got the storyline, (most) characters, the background, and more. I'm excited for this year to see how far I can really go - and if I'll stay on the plot... or if I will deviate as I did with Trials and take a rabbit trail.
I also plan to continue editing Deaf Tales - and leave TLD to marinate a little longer before I look back at it.
Oh! And I have something fun coming... anyone remember AlphaSmart? I have the Neo2 coming. Maybe this will help me write instead of getting lost on the internet.
Write on, wrimos!
Comments