NaNoWriMo Day 0: It's Almost Time

Happy Halloween!

Or, as today is known in the writing community, happy NaNoWriMo Eve!

For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo is short for "National Novel Writing Month", an annual non-profit event taking place in November. This event brings thousands of writers across the globe together to work towards the same goal: write a novel in the span of a month.

Now, these novels are no where near ready to be published at the end of the month. Traditionally, the novels written during NaNo are brand new first drafts, which are then revised later (sometimes during the next year's NaNo event). For some people, NaNo is just for fun and to say they wrote a novel in a month.

Hey, who wouldn't want to say they wrote a novel in a month?

Of course, the use of the word "novel" is a bit loose for NaNo. Technically, the goal of the event is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, or 1,667 words per day for 30 days. And yes, that is a lot, it is just the length of a novella more than a novel. Which is why some people who "win" NaNo walk away with novels that aren't completely drafted yet.

(This doesn't include the Rebels who write anything but a novel and come away winning in their own way.)

This year, I'm going to be finally taking the plunge and participating in my first NaNo. It's something I've debated doing in the past, but never committed to as I didn't feel I would have enough time to dedicate to writing a novel during the November cram of college. Now that I've graduated, I'm diving in because I now feel I can give NaNo a good, honest try (and hopefully win my first year).

I'll be posting updates on my progress, including anything from word counts to how many times I've wanted to rip my hair out in frustration, so keep an eye on my Facebook page and my NaNo posts collection here! You can even enter your email down in the subscribe box to get a notification every time I post, be it NaNo related or otherwise.

Wish me luck.