Friday, November 1, 2013

NaNoWriMo has begun!

by Derek Spencer


NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2013 is now underway!

For those of you unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo challenges authors to write a 50,000-word novel in one month — from midnight on November 1st to 11:59 PM on November 30th.

It's an incredible challenge that requires some serious dedication, especially if you want to write a novel that actually holds together as opposed to one that's disjointed and bizarre . . . though, of course, that's what editing is for, right?

In order to write 50,000 words in 30 days, you need to write 1,666.67 words per day on average. So, um . . . best get crackin'.

(Perhaps I should take my own advice, as I've managed to bang out a piddling 380 words thus far — and even that took quite an effort. [Yikes.] )

Not in the mood to write yet? Procrastinate (but only a little) with this article, which lists a few works written in a tiny span of time (including Faulkner's As I Lay Dying!):

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115441/6-great-books-written-6-weeks

Are you and/or your students participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Have you participated before? Let us know about your experiences in the comments!


Derek Spencer is a Marketing Communications Associate at Prestwick House.

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