For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. You can find out more by typing nanowrimo.org into your browser or into a search engine. The month in question is always November and registering makes you eligible for small prizes, free support and motivation, and groups to befriend which can lead to buddy support.
Basically in November one attempts to write a novel (50 000 words -usually not quite big enough to be published as such). That means you must do a nose-to-the-grindstone 1667 words per day. It is my belief that some prizes should be offered to those few that will succeed. It is a tough proposition, especially when you consider most of those involved have jobs.
I am going to enter it for the first time this year. It’s just that I would like to make three qualifications for my entry.
First of all it is not National. I believe the organization started in the United States and I live in Canada. Our two countries have long had such things mixed up like in professional hockey or basketball organizations: the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association. So it’s not surprising to see the mix up once again. But this time I think the NaNoWriMo involves many more countries.
Second in the name is the word Novel. Well I am not writing a novel this year. I am writing a handful of short stories and novelettes and, I believe, a lead off novella. That novella is called “The Fabrication” and this is what I entered for the title of my “novel”. There is time to fix it, yet., I could put in “The Fabrication and Other Stories”.
Thirdly is the Writing part of the name. I believe that what is implied by this word is “writing target”. To psych myself up for this event I told myself that all I had to do was write a computer page a day and I would then meet my own goal. A computer page is about 600 words so my target is roughly one third of the full target or 18 000 words. I actually changed my mind slightly. At the beginning of the month I’m going to try to get the full 1667 words. If I fall back to the 600 words it will still be a success. My goal was simply to get my butt in a seat every day so that I could have a half decently productive month. 600 words/day accomplishes this.
So I officially announce my participation this year in Mo. That’s not Movember but it could be. Hey maybe I should grow a moustache as a side benefit of this month. Happy Mo!
And because of my participation in Mo, I will only publish this blog once a week, on Saturdays throughout November.
