Wordless Wednesday: Notebooks and Nanowrimo

Wordless Wednesday


Not so wordless, after all!

Wordless now, but come November 1st, this notebook will be filled with words, words and more words. I was thinking about and finally decided that I was going to challenge myself and join in on the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMO).


The picture of the notebook: You see - I can't think and type at the same time (most of the time). I have to write my thoughts down, then type them out. Once I know the gist of what want to say, then my thoughts flow freely and my fingers follow on the computer. Hence, the notebook.


National Novel Writing Month challenges you to put aside your internal editor and write a 175 page, 50,000 word fiction novel. Chris Baty started the concept back in 1999 with just a few friends and the movement has grown to 79,000 strong as of last year. 79,000 people worldwide committed to try and write a novel within 30 days. People are still signing up on the site, so they don't have what the numbers are this year. The key word is writing. NaNoWriMo is a way of committing yourself to writing without editing so that by November 30th, you will have a rough draft of that novel you always wanted to write, but never got round to it. When the month is over, then you can go back, edit it, decide if you like it, pitch it to someone or throw it in the thrash. But, you will have a completed rough draft.


I bought Chris Baty's book "No Plot, No Problem! A low stress, high velocity guide to writing a novel in 30 days." How impressive is this. I ordered the book from him last Friday and received it on Saturday. Read it and was sold on the idea.


For the past few days, I have been figuring out what to write about - you know, the plot. It is helpful to have some sort of plot. Though Chris says just start writing and a plot will occur. Yeah, write, err right! I have been pondering and figuring out who my characters will be and coming up with some sort of outline. The key is you can't actually start writing the story until November 1st, but you can take the week before to get your ducks all in a row making up characters and thinking about your plot.


my5wolfcubs is also going to do NaNoWriMo and I agreed to be one of her writing buddies, so I really committed myself and there is no looking back. Some of the ladies from WTM who are "almost certain" they are going to join in the fun: Debbie in Ohio, K-FL's two daughters, Kay in Cal, Jennifer GWOTW, and maybe Julie in Georgetown.


I have my plot, characters, and settings worked out...now I just need to come up with a title for the story.


What? You want to know what the story is going to be about? You will just have to wait a little big longer before the big "reveal."




4 comments:

  1. Hey... my friend Lee is also doing this.... very cool!

    Enjoy!

    Lisa~

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've participated in NaNoWriMo before (2001), so I know it's do-able.

    That's not to say I did it, however. With a whole four-day weekend away to visit family (we do Thanksgiving up really big), that's a horrible month for me to take on such a project. I finished my book, but it was only 40,000 words. Once I figured out I wasn't going to make 50k by the deadline, I just pounded out the rest so I would at least finish, thinking I would fill in later with backstory, flashbacks, etc. Never happened, but I've completed several shorter projects since then, by posting online as I write. That's another great way to make sure the story doesn't sit unfinished. Any of them could be expanded into a novel, if I just find the time.

    Good luck in your endeavor!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a commitment. I don't work so well under pressure so don't think I could do it. I am doing a post a day for the month of Nov though. :)

    ReplyDelete

Unfortunately due to being spammed, all comments will be moderated and will appear after approval. At least I'm not using the dreaded captcha. Thank you for dropping by!