This year I have decided to take the plunge and participate in NaNoWriMo. Dave..you are talking baby talk – what is that? Well, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month (which has gone international, would that make it InNoWriMo?). The concept can be spelled out basically in this: Starting November 1 at midnight until November 30 at 11:59pm you write a novel. The goal is 50,000 words. That is on the shorter side of a novel, but still quite the feat! Some examples: Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
So you are gonna write something that good?
Yeah – that would be awesome huh? I am setting the bar low. Shooting for 50,000 words of English in sentence format. I have an idea that has come into focus and I am hoping the process itself will drive it to the finish-line. This is about getting stuff OUT not about refining it. That is what the other 11 months of the year are for. This is a full out sprint.
My biggest challenge will be finding the time. With work, 2 kids, a wife, and sleep (damn you sleep!) I will be trying to squeeze it in. But it is really one more thing to add to an ever growing list. Right between “Cut the Grass” and “Fold the Laundry”. Should fit right in there.
I sent an email to friends and family asking for support and also asking them to get on my case. I received some very encouraging emails (thanks Mom and Dad and Uncle Joe) and some very point-blank teasing emails (thanks Nancy!)
I also asked if anyone wanted to join me in my NaNoWriMo adventure. I actually have 2 more people joining me, my mother and my Brother-in-law Scott. Prior to the email I already had one along for the ride, Steve, a co-worker of my wife. Should be a interesting mix of output from the four of us. Considering Steve is an English teacher and my mother has written several novels before, my money is on them. But you never know, I could be the next Danielle Steele in disguise (see – low bar!).
So – what is next?!
Well, I start writing! I have an idea to try at night, after the kids go to bed. That may not work. I am also very deadline driven and 30 days is a lot of time for me to loaf. I can see myself doing 60% of it in the last 10 days.
On a technology front, I am using a program called Scrivener to write and organize. It is a very cool little program designed around the writing process that allows you to write and have research, outlines, summaries and even add keywords and meta data. It is Mac only (sorry Windows people).
There is a piece of text to the top of the page (look up!!) so that I can keep a constant update on my word count. Current word count as of this post…ZERO. MAN, I am flying!
