NaNo Season

As I write this, it’s Thursday October 31, Melbourne, Australia. Yes, it’s Halloween, but it also NaNoWriMo Eve. The final hours before the frenzy of writing 50000 words in 30 days during the Month of November.

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, has been going for quite some time. (I think I read somewhere, about 20 years now.) Yes, the challenge is to write a lot of words in a short amount of time. The website encourages us to try and write 1667 words per day, which amounts to the grand total of 50010 words. Recently I saw it broken down further. That was to write about 417 words four times a day. For some people that seems a whole lot more achievable. For others it’s nothing at all. For me, I just go for it and write whatever comes out for that day. For example, today (Thursday 31/10) I have written 4015 of a project (not my 2019 NaNo project though, that starts tomorrow). I remember one day I wrote just over 7000 words over a seven-hour period. There were stops and starts; bathroom, refreshments, meals. It helped me as I was working 9-5 Monday to Friday. Doing such a large number in one afternoon allowed me to write slightly less on those days I felt tired from work.

My current job is vastly different. I no longer work 9-5, as I’m now in retail, so my hours are all over the place. Some days I will have mornings to write before I go to work. Other days I will have afternoons and evenings. On my days off I will attempt to crank out as many words as I can. I have my method for keeping track, as do other WriMos. Everyone has their own way. Some use goal treats along the way. I just eat and drink when I feel like it.

2019’s NaNo project is book five of a series. I have scoped out how I want the story to flow. All I have to do now is flesh it out to a minimum of 50000, but my novel goal is for 85000, or more. The hardest part doing this project is that I have also been writing book six of the4 same series. I have to remember anything I have in that book that is affected by book fie and compensate.

Most years I manage to complete the task and therefore am classed a winner. A couple of years ago I lasted one day as November became house moving month. It wasn’t worth the anxiety of trying to move house and spend hours writing.

So, NaNo 2019 starts ion a few hours. I’m not working this particular November 1, so I’ll be cranking out as much as I can to get me going.

If you want more information on NaNoWriMo, go to: https://nanowrimo.org

Happy writing.