It’s NaNoWriMo! Has your novel taken off?

If you’re like me, you still, nearly halfway through November, haven’t announced your new novel project to NaNoWriMo. (Don't judge me – I haven't even eaten all the leftover Halloween candy yet!) If you're not like me, you're a gazillion words into that new novel project. Either that or you're wondering what the heck NaNoWriMo is.  

To get the easy part out of the way, NaNoWriMo is the catchy acronym for "National Novel Writing Month" – otherwise known as "November." It’s a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page.

The project has grown far beyond the “national” part of its name since its inception in 1999. It yearly draws hundreds of thousands of writers from around the world who challenge themselves to pound out its goal of 50,000 words of fiction. Gimmicky though it sounds, NaNoWriMo gives a lot of us the incentive to get busy with that book we’ve always meant to write. Or the next one, or the one after the next one. 

We can write alone or in company with digital pals, obsessively posting and tracking our word goals. And local NaNoWriMo groups, like the DFW Rhinos of my North Texas locale, hold get-togethers where groups can tippy-tap-tap those keyboards in total silence for hours (between scarfing down snacks) without feeling like dweebs. (OK, we are dweebs, but we're a pack of dweebs! Hear us roar!)

image: pixabay

The point of NaNoWriMo is to turn off your inner editor. Right that inner voice saying you must correct all the misspellings, the lapses in logic, the bad grammar and punctuation -- before you can move forward. The NaNoWriMo attitude is, just let go and write. Editing's what the other eleven months of the year are for.

Still haven't clicked over to the NaNoWriMo page? Do it now, check out some of the pep talks from super writers, find yourself a local group, and announce your project. Hey, I did, right in the middle of typing this! And found a super picture for a cover, from one of my favorite copyright-free sites, Pixabay.

Now, not to put the brakes on, but let me point out that even 50,000 passionate words do not a novel make. They're a first draft – a very rough draft because remember, you're not polishing them. Yet. There's no time for polish in November.

That’s for January and February, what NaNoWriMo calls the “what now?” months. Luckily, as the NaNo project has grown, so have its resources. There will be webinars, discussions, writing camps, all free. (Not that NaNo doesn’t love support – drop a donation or check out the merchandise options.) And pat yourself on the back, because you're a writer!