NoMo NaNoWriMo

On the evening of Thursday, November 3, I impulsively decided to participate in NaNoWriMo. For those unfamiliar with this term, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, which is held every November. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel (approximately 175 pages) before midnight on November 30. The only thing that matters during NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. There's absolutely no time for endless tweaking and editing, you just have to write. An added bonus is the chance to casually drop references to your novel at parties.

A plot idea formed in my head that evening, I had to get up out of bed and retrieve an pen and paper to jot these ideas down as I was afraid I would forget them by morning.

The next day I began, writing during my breaks and lunch hour, and by day's end, I had written 900 words. Not really good enough, as you need to average 1,667 words a day in order to make the deadline. Over the weekend, I failed to write a single word. Monday, I again spent my breaks and lunch writing and managed to add another 1,300 words to the story. Unfortunately, this was just a drop in bucket as I should have written at least 11,667 words.

Although my novel is historically inaccurate, full of gaping plot holes, and most definitely wouldn't even garner the least bit of interest from any self-repecting publisher, I was having a great time writing.

Unfortunately, now is really not a good time for me to be spending every spare moment writing a novel that won't amount to anything. I still have a trip report from our October Walt Disney World vacation to write, and planning to do for our upcoming December Disneyland vacation. Throw in Thanksgiving and preparations for Christmas and that doesn't leave a lot of free time. So I regret that I must discontinue my efforts until next November. NoMo NaNoWriMo for me.