NaNoWriMo: Write your own novel

Kendra’s Comments: I first heard about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) from a coworker a couple of years ago. This website / program encourages participants to write a novel, from scratch, during the month of November. So, in the thirty day time span, writers crank out a novel of at least 50,000 words. Quality is not the goal here, its quantity. The work must be original – character sketches and outlines are all that can be done ahead of time.
You might ask what the prize is if you win? Answer: the satisfaction of being a novelist. There are no prizes, and no one actually ever reads your manuscript. NaNoWriMo is simply a motivational tool to get you over the mental hurdle that sometimes comes with facing a big challenge, such as writing a novel. By forcing yourself to crank out so much material in such a short time, often some really creative material results.

I will be participating in the 2009 NaNoWriMo. I’m a little nervous, but excited. It should be a fun way to spend some time. Feel free to “friend” me if you sign up too!

If you are nervous and really want some ideas or pointers, check out these books at GPL:

• How to write and sell your first novel
• Wild ink : how to write fiction for young adults
• How not to write a novel : 200 classic mistakes and how to avoid them--a misstep-by-misstep guide