NaNo NaNo: One Woot Writer Attempts NaNoWriMo
If you've never heard of NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month: a 30-day challenge to writers everywhere to pound out one (1) novel of 50,000 words or more by the end of November. If you follow any blogger or writer types on Twitter, Facebook, or the like October is a time full of lamentations about the upcoming grind, how horrific it's going to be, and the excitement of taking on the challenge. It's not unlike running a marathon, except you sit for pretty much all of it.
I'd heard of the idea a few years ago but never gave it much thought until two weeks ago, when seeing the annual slew of tweets got me thinking about it. "I've got one or two solid ideas," I thought, "and I'm only putting them off. Maybe committing to this thing will give me the kick in the pants I need to get to writing." It's a well-known fact among professional writers that 99% of our job consists of convincing ourselves to write. Distractions abound, an idea can always use more mulling over and refining, and of course there are video games to play. "Screw it," I said to myself because I am a pathetic, friendless person, "I'm going to write a novel..."
