Imagine the feeling of being a novelist! You’ve written a book that includes glorious words, funny scenes, a plot that keeps readers on the edge of their seats! You are suave and sophisticated—a writer with experience and acumen. Life is your oyster!
Your adoring fans ask, “how did you do it?” And you give the side-eye, with a knowing smile on your face.
“I wrote my first draft during NaNoWriMo,” you say, with modesty. “It was a lark, for fun!”
And it is fun. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. (If you want that broken down—it’s 1,667 words per day). Besides the literary challenge, which alone provides some kick-ass mental inspiration, you get to do this alongside tens of thousands of other writers taking the same challenge around the world.
Like the excitement of the Boston Marathon, which is amplified by every other participant! And like any such contest, there are helpful weigh-stations along the route: virtual write-ins, discussion forums, experts to answer your questions, fun activities like word wars and dares. And it all happens in November, which is coincidentally a month in the CNMI with an excess of holidays that provide more free writing time. (Citizenship Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day).
If all goes well, we’ll have local write-ins, too. Information is available on the MarianasWritersMovement.org website.
Now is the time to get in on the fun—sign up at https://www.nanowrimo.org You can get more information onlne, or check out “No Plot? No Problem!” from the JKPL (a book by the founder or instigator of NaNoWriMo!). Sign up now. It’s free. It’s fun. And come December, you may be saying—I wrote a novel!