No, it’s not an IPod. November is National Novel Writing Month, brought to you by the wonderful people at the Office of Letters and Light. This is my third year participating in NaNoWriMo and let me tell you writing flat out is an experience. Fifty thousand words in thirty days and nights.
Has your Muse run for cover? Is he or she cowering in the corner thumb firmly in mouth, clutching a security blanket? Yeah the prospect of writing a full novel in thirty days is a little daunting, but it can be done.
Oh there’s all kinds of motivators to get those creative juices flowing. When I do NaNo, I bribe my Muse. Chocolate keeps her and her friends happy, music is another avenue. My 14 y/o shakes his head at me when he hears me listen to Javier Colon’s Stitch by Stitch for the umpteenth time. Then there’s encouragement from the buddy list.
Buddy list? Yeah. What, you thought you had to do this alone? No. It takes a village to raise a child, well it takes a village to write a book in a month. (I’m Telly423 out there in NaNo world. Hint, hint) Tweet that you’re doing #NaNo. Email the members of your crit group. Facebook your daily word count. Someone will cheer you on. Stuck on a plot point? Check out some of the forums at NaNo.
So grab your Muse from the corner, shove a candy bar in her hand and get your butt in gear. There’s still time to get 50 thousand words in before November 30. Oh and one more thing, no editing, no critiquing, no judging. Just write. Just experience creativity in its purest form. Like the sound of that? I thought you would. And if you finish you get a real nifty badge to place on your website and a certificate to hang on the wall. So do NaNoWriMo, give the Muse a challenge.
Until next time, Indulge Your Inner Romantic. W. Lynn Chantale
When I’m not up to my eyeballs in a NaNo frenzy I can be found
Blog: http://wlynnchantale-decadentdecisions.blogspot.com/
Email: wlynnchantale@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/wlynnchantale
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/W.LynnChantaleAuthor
I’d love to have the time to write 50,000 in one month but my dogs get really cranky if I don’t feed them. So, off I go to all my wonderful jobs