NaNoWriMo - The Devil Wrapped up in a Twinkie. Sounds Delicious.

(The title was just to get your attention.  It worked, suckers.)

When a member of my writing group first asked me, "Are you doing NaNoWriMo?"

My immediate response was, "What'd you just call me?"

He explained.  Sounded like torture.  I said I was in.  My biggest concern, of course, is how it will affect my favorite holiday of the year.  My kids I can ignore, my day job can suffer, my laundry can stay dirty – we will all probably survive the month.  But that feast must go on.

With NaNoWriMo just around the corner, we have started to hear a lot of *ugh*, *sigh* and *not again*'s from within the writing and publishing communities.  Many people take umbrage with the fact that a novel can be written in a month.  On SheWrites, an author recently posted a blog 'Just Say No to NaNoWriMo'.  I felt compelled to reply, as did many others.  Chuck Wendig (avid tweeter, writer, creator of Terrible Minds) has many things to say about the NaNoWriMo.  Some good, some bad, some not for the faint of – ear?

As Chuck would say, 50,000 words does not a novel make.  No one participating should be under the illusion they will have a marketable product by the end of November.  The NaNoWriMo website itself says, "The ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output.  It’s all about quantity, not quality.  Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap."

What this will do is force writers to write – perhaps discover the plot, storyline or characters as you type away instead of hashing them out in advance.  It'll get you past that writer's block – in fact, it will force you to punch that block square in the face and that is after you mow it down with a semi-automatic weapon.  Yes, my friends, it will be gory.

But you can do it!  Use resources offered; participate in forums, tweet about your progress (use hashtag #nanowrimo), find local writers and create a group.  But most of all – write!  Aim for 2,000 words a day, every day.  When you get stuck, move on.  Start a different story, introduce a new character, write about how much you hate your life.  Anything!  Besides, if you 'win' (yes, NaNoWriMo has conceded to the gamification of society), you receive special offers from the sponsors.

I am curious to find out exactly how soon after November we see a surge in self-published e-books (or a surge in divorce rates, for that matter).  Makes me want to get out more review requests now.  Just keep in mind Twain Wannabe's, that months of adding to, subtracting from, editing, formatting, cover art and more editing will be in your future after NaNoWriMo.  With luck, you can have all that done by July 2012 – just in time to start prepping for the next NaNoWriMo. 
 
Damn – I am getting sick of writing that word, acronym, whatever it is.  Did I mention I am a writer?


Anyway, excuse my blog for the month of November while I will mostly be blogging about how much I hate writing.  But follow me afterwards, as we can 'finish up' and tackle the self-pubbin' beast together.

NaNoWriMo, 50,000 words, GO!!!  Yes, go…you really don't have to wait until Nov. 1.