NaNoWriMo Has Officially Begun

With everything going on in the world, now is the perfect time to escape reality through fiction. The month of november brings about feelings of warmth, coziness, and excitement for the holidays. But for writers, the month of November is all about NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. 

If you’ve never heard of NaNoWriMo before, it is a month long challenge to start and finish writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Seems daunting? It most definitely is, but it can also be a great tool for anyone who wants to find time for writing. It is a dare just intimidating enough to make you not want to give up easily and exciting enough to keep you intrigued all throughout. 

Now, the typical rules aren’t set in stone. No one is there to require you to write the 1,667 words each day to meet the 50,000 goal. You can always switch up the challenge to suit your needs. Maybe you want to write a shorter story or finish one you’ve already started or simply try to get your feet wet with novel writing. The month is your oyster and pushing yourself to write consistently by any means necessary is your prize. 

The NaNoWriMo website also serves as more than just a call to write. It is a nonprofit organization, a writing community network, and a place full of resources and tools. There’s NaNoWriMo inspired events held all over the country so people can write together. There’s online forums and social media ways of connecting with other writers. And the website will help track your progress as well as provide tools to help you plan or stay inspired. My favorite go-to tools for ideas and inspiration are the plot generator and dialogue generator. If you decide to start and have trouble keeping up, don’t panic. Do what you can and look into the many tips & tricks previous NaNoWriMo’ers have to share. 

You may wonder why do so many people subject themselves to the stress of trying to meet and beat this goal? But so many benefits can be found. Most of us writers slowly forget our passion for it as the days go on because we prioritize work, school, and our social lives first and leave writing in last place. NaNoWriMo is a reminder that our writing is important and deserves to be paid attention to. And it’s fun! You will learn to manage your time, toss the idea of perfectionism out the window, and realize that your fear of failure was actually a fear of success. After all, the more you write, the better you will get!

• books
• challenge
• fiction
• NaNoWriMo
• writing