Loading ...NaNoWriMo
This section is dedicated to the wonderful challenge that is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short.) Chances are, if you’re a writer, you have heard of this before. If you’re not and/or you haven’t, then what are you waiting for?
In short, it is a month devoted to writers of all lengths, styles and genres. We are challenged by the Office of Letters and Light to write 50,000 words or more over the course of November. They don’t have to be good words or big words or beautiful words, but they have to end up on a computer screen by November 30th to “win.” Thousands of participants “win” each year, and the number is only growing with time. The prize consists of knowing that you (yes, you!) wrote a novel from start to finish, and that you now have something that, with a little time and patience in editing, might someday become your first published novel! That’s it. What else could we writers ask for?
2009 was my first year participating, and due to my anniversary in early November, I had something along the lines of 20 days to complete my novel, not 30 as most people did. While I won’t say that it changed my life or made me a better writer, it did force me to put my nose to the grindstone and write. This is one of the hardest goals for any writer, no matter who you are or what you write! I am very pleased with the experience that I had, and I can’t wait for the next few Novembers!
One of the rewards for completing a NaNo novel in 2009 was a free proof copy of your book in print form, courtesy of Createspace. To submit our work for printing, however, it had to be in PDF format. A number of my friends and relatives decided they wanted a copy of the PDF for themselves. A few even wanted copies of the book, despite my insistence that the “book” in question was not edited, polished or completed in any way aside from meeting the NaNo word count requirements. I will not offer you the book copies, but I will make my PDF available for those that are interested in seeing what I wrote, verbatim, without any sort of editing whatsoever. I will also make subsequent NaNo successes available as they happen (and they will happen. I hope.)
Please let me know what you think! As always, constructive criticism benefits me greatly; a jerky attitude does nothing but make me mad. Leave it at the door, will you?