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Challenging the Muse 50,000 words at a Time
The title of today's post is taken from my current email signature. It's followed by this badge and url:
http://www.nanowrimo.org
Many of you probably already know about the animal called NaNoWriMo.
For those who do not, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Each year writers sign up to spend the month of November trying to write a 50,000 word novel. It is no holds-barred, down-and-dirty, headlong getting-words-on-paper, rough-and-tumble draftwriting. The point is to NOT EDIT but get as much on paper (or hard drive) as you can. People from all over the world sign up. Some people have gone on to publish novels that began at NaNoWriMo. There are no prizes, other than bragging rights and the satisfaction of meeting your goal,... oh yeah, and a workable draft at the finish.
Anyone who is interested can find all the history and details at the website.
Now, I haven't done this before. I'm participating for the first time this year. I've been preparing for it in approved fashion, with notes and outline and timelines. I'm trying out the software, Scrivenor, that was made available for the month. And I'm checking out the forums, meeting up online with other participants, and generally getting mentally prepared to tackle this challenge.
Am I intimidated? Well, yeah.
Am I crazy? Probably, especially since I've decided to try for 90,000 words myself.
Am I going to do it anyway? You bet. Even if it does make my immediate family go out of their minds and/or hate me.
In my case, I'm using NaNoWriMo to jump-start my next project. And aside from being challenging, this is a great disciplinary tool: I now have the world, and oh my god, my family, watching to see if I can do this. Plus, well, we all have to climb some sort of mountain in our lives, right?
I mean, tackling a novel is tough enough, true. But now, with a stopwatch and wordcounter involved...the mountain just got bigger and badder. I don't have a great deal of physical courage; I'm not about to climb a real mountain. I'm probably not going to sail around the world or go up in a hot air balloon -- not even by accident.
I did, at age 49, take my first year of tap lessons. I was tapping on my 50th birthday. In fact. I even danced in the recital! I figured if I could conquer that, I could try anything I wanted to. So here I am, following another of my passions, trying to do something I never have before.
Whether I make it to 50,000 or 90,000 words or not, I'll have some amount of new material. I may have a whole new manuscript. I'll at least have part. And I'll have the satisfaction of having tried to meet the challenge.
Maybe I'll even be ready to go again next year. I'll let you know.
http://www.nanowrimo.org
Many of you probably already know about the animal called NaNoWriMo.
For those who do not, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Each year writers sign up to spend the month of November trying to write a 50,000 word novel. It is no holds-barred, down-and-dirty, headlong getting-words-on-paper, rough-and-tumble draftwriting. The point is to NOT EDIT but get as much on paper (or hard drive) as you can. People from all over the world sign up. Some people have gone on to publish novels that began at NaNoWriMo. There are no prizes, other than bragging rights and the satisfaction of meeting your goal,... oh yeah, and a workable draft at the finish.
Anyone who is interested can find all the history and details at the website.
Now, I haven't done this before. I'm participating for the first time this year. I've been preparing for it in approved fashion, with notes and outline and timelines. I'm trying out the software, Scrivenor, that was made available for the month. And I'm checking out the forums, meeting up online with other participants, and generally getting mentally prepared to tackle this challenge.
Am I intimidated? Well, yeah.
Am I crazy? Probably, especially since I've decided to try for 90,000 words myself.
Am I going to do it anyway? You bet. Even if it does make my immediate family go out of their minds and/or hate me.
In my case, I'm using NaNoWriMo to jump-start my next project. And aside from being challenging, this is a great disciplinary tool: I now have the world, and oh my god, my family, watching to see if I can do this. Plus, well, we all have to climb some sort of mountain in our lives, right?
I mean, tackling a novel is tough enough, true. But now, with a stopwatch and wordcounter involved...the mountain just got bigger and badder. I don't have a great deal of physical courage; I'm not about to climb a real mountain. I'm probably not going to sail around the world or go up in a hot air balloon -- not even by accident.
I did, at age 49, take my first year of tap lessons. I was tapping on my 50th birthday. In fact. I even danced in the recital! I figured if I could conquer that, I could try anything I wanted to. So here I am, following another of my passions, trying to do something I never have before.
Whether I make it to 50,000 or 90,000 words or not, I'll have some amount of new material. I may have a whole new manuscript. I'll at least have part. And I'll have the satisfaction of having tried to meet the challenge.
Maybe I'll even be ready to go again next year. I'll let you know.
Tags: 50000, challenge, month, nanowrimo, national, novel, november, words, writing
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