NaNoWriMo 2010

Well, November is almost upon us, and as most of my fellow writerly folk out there will know, that means it's... NaNoWriMo! (or National Novel Writing Month for those who aren't familiar with it). Basically, writers spend all of November writing a novel, with their ultimate goal being to hit 50,000 words. To find out more about it, click here.

I remember a few months ago, I posted a schedule of completion for my novella, Dark and Silent Waters. It was meticulously planned out and I was determined to stick to it... And naturally, study and illness and a plethora (I know that word is cliched but I still like saying it) of other Crap Events got in my way, so I ended up failing miserably. In fact I don't think I've even touched my novella since I posted the outline.

This will be my first year doing NaNoWriMo. Last year I didn't do it because I was too busy/lazy, but this year I've decided that it might just be the push I need to make some real progress on my novella. Generally I tend to focus too much on 'making something perfect' before moving on to the next bit, and I know that this slows me down. NaNoWriMo will give me an excuse to write absolute rubbish and not feel bad about it, as long as I can bring my manuscript closer to completion (and I can always edit the crappy bits later). I'm also hoping that competing/talking with other writers will give me even more motivation and inspiration to write.

I don't think I'll actually get to 50,000 words - as Dark and Silent Waters is a novella, I can't see it being much more than 40,000 words unless I pad it out with meaningless junk, which I don't want to do - but if I do get a completed draft of my manuscript, I will still consider myself a winner of NaNoWriMo (and I shall brag about it accordingly).

If anyone else is doing NaNoWriMo this year, feel free to add me as a buddy: RebeccaJFleming_DemonicDragon. We can nag/encourage each other on our respective paths to NaNoWriMo success :)