TOMORROW I'm going to jump in! Yep, November is known to writers as NaNoWriMo. That is short for National Novel Writing Month. It is a killer month of diving into a new book head first and hacking out 50,000 words. That seems impossible, but it is doable. I have actually completed the task a few times AND...well... fell short a few times as well.
Life happens and we don't know what a month will bring, but every time I have taken this challenge, it has propelled me on my author journey. Even though 50,000 words is a lot, most books are longer. Some by a few thousand words, others by many thousands of words. The point of the month is learning. Through this challenge, writers learn that daily writing gets the job done. Also, we learn that planning is key. Outlines, character sketches, and possible titles have been either diligently processed in Oct and before...or vaguely sketched into the fertile or not-so-fertile brain matter of the writer.
There is something about the digital achievement badges that helps keep me going. Last year I had two unfinished novels. I decided to pick up where I left off on each of them. That was a good thing for me because in forcing myself to get this done, I ended up with 2 1/2 rough drafts completed.
Of course, the rough draft is just that. The real work...drudgery comes in December and beyond with whipping the novel into shape. Many rewrites, edits, and re-edits later, the book is ready to send to the real editor/publisher.
Because of this challenge, I have 2 brand new titles published in 2019. It is worth the hassle and it is quite fun. I urge you to take the NaNoWriMo Challenge this year.
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