November 1, 2011

Day One of NaNoWriMo - It's on!

Thirty days and nights of literary abandon!
I suppose to begin I should explain what NaNoWriMo is. It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it is what it sounds like: the month of November devoted to the painful endeavour of writing an entire novel. More specifically, the goal of participants of NaNoWriMo is to complete a first draft of 50,000 words, an average of 1,666 words every frigging day. Personally, I'm not participating in the traditional NaNoWriMo sense of planning, structuring, outlining and drafting an entire novel in a single month, from start to finish. Instead, I'm using the event as motivation for moving my already begun project from mid-completion to ending. Definitely taking advantaged of the NaNoWriMo site to get pep talks, participate in forum discussions with other writers, bounce ideas, and pop in for some community write-ins in Toronto. Such events exist in many regions worldwide. In TO there are write-ins in libraries and cafes, as well as social events at cool venues such as Snakes and Lattes on Bloor and Karaoke. Basically, make friends with other writers and create a support system for yourself. NaNoWriMo is looking for participants and donors to cover their costs. You can also participate by sponsoring a friend to write a novel (pick me! pick me!) If you're new to NaNoWriMo, you can get a mentorship, and visit message boards within your genre, your region, age etc. Definitely look into participating if you never have before. You'll be a newbie, like me! Contact if you want a writing buddy!