NaNoWriMo, Here I Go
November is
National Novel Writing Month. Really. The NaNoWriMo.org website runs an annual novel-writing competition encouraging people to produce a novel in one month. The rules are that you have from midnight on November 1st to midnight November 30 to write a 50,000 word novel. You are not judged on quality, just quantity. The idea is that the pressure of a deadline will loosen people up enough to just sit down and write and not worry about whether their output is any good or not; if you like what you've done you can always go back and polish it up later.
I registered today. I am sure I have 50,000 crappy words in me somewhere... I have no idea what I'm going to write about yet, but I figure it doesn't hurt to try. I will keep you updated.
ADDENDUM: As I was on the phone with a patient last night, I was absentmindedly doing the math and figured I would have to write an average of 167 words per day to finish by month's end. No problem, I thought, I can do that. As I was driving home later, I realized I had skipped a decimal place and that I'll need
1670 words per day to complete 50,000 words in a month. I almost lost control of the car ("NO WAY!!") I'll give it a try anyway.
posted by Dr. Alice at #
