It’s time for NaNoWriMo again! Only four days to prepare!

I know that a great many of you don’t know what I’m talking about, so here are the explains:

National Novel Writing Month

“NaNo,” as it is affectionately called, is a challenge to all authors to take the month of November to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That’s almost 1700 words each day—if you don’t take off for Thanksgiving.

They aren’t supposed to be finely crafted perfectly corrected words; just write them down now without editing or censoring yourself in any way. At the end of the month, you could very well have yourself (a first, rough draft of) a novel. Or 50,000 disjointed, badly written essays. Or nothing. Not everyone “wins” NaNo and gets their 50,000 words on paper. But that’s okay, we’ll be doing this again next year. And the next. Just trying is important. Acknowledging that maybe, just maybe you have something to say is a win in my book. Even if you never allow anyone to see your work (you don’t have to post it publically anywhere) every word you write makes you a better writer. I encourage anyone who’s even had a passing thought about writing to try NaNo. The Nano community is enormously supportive of each and every writer. You can have specific writing buddies that check on you and encourage you to keep going. You, of course, cheer on your own buddies.

I will be participating again this year. I was a winner last year. —No, you can’t read it; it’s awful. However it’s a start, and an inspiration to do it again this year, possibly better.

I will not be writing a traditional fiction (or non-fiction) novel. That’s okay; the scope of NaNoWriMo has expanded over the years to include many forms of writing. Nano has a badge for people like me.

It’s the NaNo Rebel Badge:

I want to thank several people who have bullied conned cheered me on in this endeavor. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it. Especially Rook and Darlene (see her blog here), both of whom will be joining in again this year, as well. Hi, writing buddies!

More soon on NaNoWriMo.org and why even non-writers should be interested.