I used to love the old Coca-Cola Santa Packs commercials. They marked the beginning of the holiday season! Now, right about this time every year, I start to sing, “NaNoWriMo’s comin’!” to the same tune, and I’m just as excited (maybe more so).
First, a quick explanation for those who don’t know what I’m even talking about: NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It is an event that has been around since 1999, becoming more of what it is today in 2005. At its heart, it’s a personal challenge–write 50,000 words in 30 days during the month of November. Signing up and participating simply gives you somewhere to track your progress, goodies if you win, and a huge community of like-minded people, cheering each other on.
I am such a NaNo fangirl, seriously. October is widely referred to as “Preptober” by many Wrimos, as those of us who plan ahead for what we’re going to write like to spend the month before it starts prepping. But for me (and still plenty of others), the real season starts in September.
The last few years, I was too busy with work to enjoy the lead-up to NaNoWriMo. A few of those years, I barely managed to participate, then slunk back into my depressing no-time-for-writing life until the next November. Though those times were difficult (writing has long been a huge stress relief for me), I am so incredibly grateful to NaNoWriMo for at least giving me the push, and the vehicle, to do some writing for that one month.
In the coming months, I’ll post more about NaNoWriMo, but I will probably never again post as much as I did in 2015, where I posted an entire series about how to prepare for NaNo, as well as tips for planning a story, and tips for the actual writing in November. All of those posts, including some I’ve added since then, can be found here: Prep for NaNoWriMo
So who else is excited? Are you participating? Thinking about it? Never heard of it before but can’t help but be intrigued? I’d love to hear from you!
A Journey of Words 
Standing in the bleachers cheering the rest of the NaNo-ers on. I am in the middle of plotting a were-beast story. This is my first time plotting and outling a story. Fingers crossed it works and I finally can write “The End” on one of my projects. Good luck in the coming journey.
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That sounds exciting! Good luck to you on your project as well. I always find it interesting when pantsers decide to give planning a try, and hope it works out for you!
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It is different that’s for sure.
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I’ll bet it is. I know it’s a very different for me, who is definitely more a planner, to pants it.
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Really curious to give this a try. Can the writings be private? And best of luck to you and all who decide to take part.
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Yes, the writing is done on your own by default. You write however/wherever it works best for you (pen & paper, MS Word, Google Docs, etc.) and update your progress on the website. The only way your writing is public is if you decide to share it somewhere, as some people do on their own blogs. On the website, you can share the title, synopsis, and even an excerpt, but even that is optional.
If you have any other questions about how it works, you can check out the site. I’d be happy to answer any as well. I’m pretty passionate about it. I know it’s not for everyone, but I always encourage people to try it out if they think it might be fun, because there is no penalty whatsoever for trying and not hitting that 50k mark.
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Thanks so much for the info! I’ll definitely check out your other posts on this topic.
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You’re welcome!
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