The first of November is a day that I circle on the calendar whenever I get a brand new one for the upcoming year. 11/1 represents the beginning of not only another month, a countdown to Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the beginning of the yearly NaNoWriMo challenge for writers across the globe.
For those of you in the know ( and those of you who aren’t) NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, The challenge is to compose a 50,000 word novel ( or greater than 50,000 words if you are so inclined) from 11/1- until 11/30. You catalog your daily word count on the NaNo site and complete tasks for “badges” of honor along the way. Once the end of the month comes, your total is tallied and if you reach the 50,000 word, you “Win” the challenge.
People who know me know I love an individual challenge. I’m not into team sports, don’t like to compete with others for anything. I would be one of those who would be eaten during the zombie apocalypse because I wouldn’t fight back! But when the challenge is just between me and myself, well, then I say, “bring it on!” I lovelovelove a challenge myself with writing and NaNo is one of the best ways to do that.
Prior to the challenge, I usually think about what I’m going to write, plot out a few key points, put together rough sketches of my characters and then start, raring to go, on day 1. For the past 2 years, the nano books I’ve done have been sequels, so I knew where I was going with the plot, had already met the characters, a had a defined path. This year is no different. I am penning the 5th book in my MacQuire Women series. This will be Serena MacQuire’s story and it is a tear jerker in my imagination. Hope I can get that emotion on the page for the reader to jive with.
Anyway, off I go. Day 2 is looming. Day one was a corker with over 3500 words down. Now I have 46,500 left to go…
So, do you NaNo? Let’s discuss…
Peggy Jaeger, Author 