NaNoWriMo

For those not in the know, November is NaNoWriMo---National Novel Writing Month. This is a bit of a misnomer, however, since "national" novel writing month has been international for quite some time. The website of the organization can be found at nanowrimo.org

I've been making excuses not to participate for about four or five years, but this year, with no job, no pressure and--other than visitors in the first week of November--no time constraints, I really have no excuse. The goal is to complete 50,000 words of a novel between November 1-30. For those playing the home game, this is about 1,600 words per day, give or take a hundred here and there.

Ideally you're supposed to start a completely new project, but since I only have about 30,000 words of the Los Angeles novel, and my real problem with writing that book seems to be a tragic case of over thinking everything, I think using NaNoWriMo to completely throw caution to the wind and write, write, write, might be exactly what I need to silence Editor Brain for good--or, at least until I need her again.

I once participated in the Three Day Novel contest, over Labor Day Weekend, and managed to complete a 26,000 word novella in 72 hours. I'm hoping this bodes well for writing 50,000 words in thirty days. 50,000 words added to the 30,000 I already have would bring me very near completion.

Quite frankly, I'd just like to remember what it feels like to sit and crank out several thousand words in one day. So if I can get that feeling back? This little experiment will be well worth it.