What Is This Thing Called NaNo?

Images courtesy of NaNoWriMo Every fall, social media chatter picks up about NaNo. But what is it? Has everyone suddenly gotten excited about the nanometer, one billionth of a meter in the metric system? Not quite...  In fact, the complete logo referred to is NaNoWriMo.

The National Novel Writing Month is a challenge to writers to complete a novel of fifty thousand words during the month of November—approximately 1,667 per day. It's grown from a handful of participants in 1999 to more than 450,000 worldwide participants. It's an opportunity for writers, published or aspiring, to push themselves, make new writing "buddies," discuss the ups and down of novel writing in the website forums, congregate with other writers in local area "write-ins," and even join lively discussions on online media such as Twitter.

It's a seat-of-the-pants style of writing, ignoring your inner editor, and simply concentrating on meeting those daily word goals. Editing as you go is discouraged, placing the emphasis on words rather than style or even plot. In some ways, it's more like free association than the serious business of writing. But it's a fantastic tool to get you started.

It's also messy. The first book I completed during NaNo was almost unreadable. Holes, holes, and more holes. Not to mention the terrible dialogue, typos, and inconsistencies.  I rewrote it a dozen times or more over three years before I had most of the imperfections fixed. It became my first published book, Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1) in 2012.

The next year (although still unpublished), I was an experienced noveler. And I came prepared. I've never been able to force myself into a real outline, but I did have a decent story summary. It kept those plot holes to a minimum, requiring less rewrites. I like to think I've gotten better at it every year, and all but two of my NaNo novels are now on online bookshelves.
 
This is the ultimate social distancing get-together of writers for 2020! Why not join the challenge today? You can  click here to get started or to learn more about this non-profit organization and the good it does for writers. If you decide to sign up and stick it out, you’ll have a great sense of accomplishment on November 30, meet other terrific writers…and have a lot of fun! If you decide to take up the challenge, give a shout out to IowaGal ... that's me!
​Good Luck!