National Novel Writing Month - a different take

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it's called by participants, runs each November for ... yep! a month. In that month participants are encouraged to write 50,000 words or more, as a way of jump-starting their writing, throwing a deadline at them, and generally giving writers a reason to write.

Gimmicky, maybe. But it attracts a whole lot of writers, and more each year. Sign-ups begin in October of 2006 for the 2006 version.

Okay, whoopdeedoo, eh? So what's the point? What's the "different take"? Well, I'm glad you asked, even though you probably didn't. In the Yahoo group set up by the last session of Writopia's f2k writing class, a discussion began regarding NaNoWriMo. A few of us had participated (I did, but didn't finish), and we were asked about it. Seems like everybody got their opinions in, whether or not they had participated. And, no, not everybody likes the idea.

One of our group asked if someone would join him as he did a something similar, writing 50,000 words, starting in May. He wanted some support, which a lot of writers need, and wondered if it would be worthwhile.

Well! I, being addicted to making web pages, and now blogs, sat down in front of my computer('cause if I sat down in the back of my computer I wouldn't get much done, y'know?) and set up a blog with the express purpose of facilitating a Novel Writing Month for our members. A sort of light-weight NaNoWriMo for our own bunch of writers. In my own extremely clever way, I named it "Private Novel Writing Month". (Yeah, yawn, but the name ain't the point, is it? LOL)

It's not a bad little site for us, and as we begin on Monday, May 1, 2006, I think it'll do us well. After all, we don't have the bells and whistles of the real thing. We aren't trying to be the real thing, either. We're just trying to see if we can dedicate enough time to accumulate 50,000 written words in a month.

Is that important? No, not as such. To make the total a writer will have to write 1613 words each day.

"Big deal," I can hear you say, "who can't do that?"

A lot of writers, I would answer. When we're "on", there isn't enough time in the whole world to write all that we need to write. I know! I've been there! For a writer, there's no more powerful feeling. None. And 1600 words is a drop in the bucket.

But when a writer is not "on" or is struggling to get the story straight in his own mind, 1600 words may as well be a million. He can't find them to write them.

So, let's give some credit to anybody who puts him/herself out there in this manner. They, and I, are trying to do something that is very hard to do for most of us. And with some support, encouragement, and quite a bit of bragging(heheheee!), the five of us who are embarking on this month-long marathon may well create the foundations of a new novel for each of us.

You can check out what we're up to, and perhaps how we're doing here.

Update (8:24 PM): We may have added a sixth member to our PriNoWriMo blog. Hope so! The more the merrier. Well, not if we're supposed to share my M&Ms, but you know what I mean.