National Novel Writing Month

What Is It?

According to the NaNoWriMo Organization: "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

• Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.


• Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.


• Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down."

What Is It To Me?

The idea of committing to the NaNoWriMo is like a lot of my obsessions. It began early this summer as something I couldn't imagine anybody doing. It progressed to being something I couldn't imagine being able to do, then advanced to being something I was afraid to do. It has finally reached the point where I can't imagine not doing it. Or, at least, not trying to do it. I find myself trying to lure every writer I know into taking this trip with me.

I've decided for me, NaNoWriMo represents:

• A chance to put my "writing is putting one word after another, as often as possible" theory to the test.
• Attempting something that I doubted was even possible and was certainly beyond me, when I first heard about it in June, 2006.
• Admitting to myself that the act of writing is actually more important to me than anything I'm ever likely to produce by doing so.
• Silencing the internal editor who has always demanded the best of me. To placate that voice I start nothing and avoid the risk of doing something 'poorly'. This will put him on notice he's going to have to sit down and shut the fuck up for a while.

  AIDS & ADD-ONS

  NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM by Chris Brady Chris is the birth father of NaNoWriMo and deserves to be worshipped as a saint. This 176 page (hey, 50,000 words???) book and his 30-day novel writing concept has done more to kick my writing into gear than anything or anyone I've encountered in the past 20 years. GET IT!	BLOGGING It's free, as simple or complex as you want to be, and it is a place back-up and store your writing. Okay! You can also self-publish. (Admit it! Every writer's dream.) I'm pointing you to blogger but there are thousands of choices. Your reasons not to: copyrights, theft? Get over it! The greatest threat to my work is it never being read.
  YWriter 2 by Simon Haynes Seat of the pants. Sure. Sure. But I need to feel I have some sort of control, some sense of structure. This FREEWARE writing software developed by a novelist gives me that. You can use Simon's program to plan and track progress or even completely compose your novel with it. I'm starting out using it for structure. We'll see how that goes.	A Tangled Web The internet is the greatest way for me to not write. I have to get away from the web. I pulled out a retired Palm Pilot IIIxe, bought a used, fold-up keyboard on Amazon and installed siED, a freeware text-editor. Weighing around 1.5 pounds, with 2 AAA batteries that last months, I can go to any Starbucks, picnic table, or library and write.
  Sometimes Less Is More Obsessive even about my obsessions, my quest for word processors without a PC  continues. I found the Alphasmart machines which many writers love and nobody says anything bad about. Nothing but 4-line display electric typewriter that weighs less than 2 pounds, runs for 200 hours on AA batteries, holds 64 pages and feels great to type on. I picked up the Alphasmart 2000 on eBay for $29 and love it, so far.	Devil In The Details The PC is an incredible tool, helping me write in ways I'd never dreamed possible. I've believed this since 1982, when I bought my first computer and quit writing. Okay! So I must be careful of this. I've tried several programs designed to organize random ideas, stray thoughts and plot without losing creativity. So far, Papel is the only one that works for me. Its graceful interface is simple, intuitive, and gets more powerful the longer I use it. As a bonus, it's free! What do you have to lose? NOTE: Michael O'donnell's site is down and Papel is unavailable. I love this program and use it more every day. I've made it available for download by clicking on the Papel icon. The program is offered with no warranty, guarantees or promise of support.