NaNoWriMo began yesterday. I am not participating.
Others who are not partaking of the NaNo: Kristen, who is busy shopping her first novel and has already started her second; The INTERN (whose blog is worth a looksie) is sans NaNo; and heck, countless authors1 aren’t participating– OK, fine, writing is an author’s JOB, so really, November is just another month… but STILL.
I’ve seen a number of alternatives to ‘let’s write a 50,000 word novel in one month,’ in which, might I add, ONE WEEK is killed if you travel home for Thanksgiving2. NaNoReVisMo, or, Nation Novel Revision Month, was proposed by The INTERN. While I have no desire to jump into writing a novel at the moment, revising a previous work is tempting; however, I wrote my last novel when I was in JUNIOR HIGH. That is not revision. That is printing the abomination and burning it. That is ripping out the drive containing Abomination and smashing it pieces. That is reworking characters and plot and completely rewriting Abomination as a brand new work. Right, perhaps not.
Kristen had a thought: make a pledge to blog every (or almost every) day in November. BEDN isn’t as catchy an acronym as BEDA (Blog Every Day in April); nonetheless, the suggestion is still in the spirit of focusing on writing output.
I will be writing this month. It may come in the form of scenes, character studies, short stories, blog posts, reviews, textual criticism or whatever else I feel like writing at the moment. I should probably keep a word count goal in mind. 50,000 words is rather arbitrary when taken out of the novel context but I do wish to keep quantity the focus. I’m going to reduce the quota to 30,000 words in 30 days. There is no science to this number, I just like the number three. And what the heck should I call my little project?
- At Least I’m Writing Something Month (AtLImWriSoMo)
- Write Anything Month (WrAnyMo)
- Write, Gorram It (WriGoIt)
In the interest of not agonizing over the appropriate name/abbreviation all day, I will settle with WrAnyMo. I don’t want to cross-post everything I publish here on Puddles (and vice-versa) so I’ll Tweet links to all public posts, regardless of where they appear, using the tag #WrAnyMo2009.
I started yesterday on a creative piece and only hit 506 words but some blogging should quickly up that count and get me back on track for the slightly late start.
To Star and Jenn and everyone else who is doing NaNoWriMo: YAY! RA! GO! Best of luck : )
1. A mighty triumvirate of seriously cool women YA writers, Maureen Johnson, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Melissa Marr, have confirmed that they are not participating this year. Maureen has pledged to give NaNo advise throughout November, which is sure to be just the thing you need for procrastination and a chuckle. Back to text.
2. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday, not because of the significance behind it but because of how it is celebrated: with family. I am not driving 12 (Jersey)-16 (Mass.) hours each way only to spend the whole visit 1.) feeling guilty for ignoring my family in order to meet my quota or 2.) feeling guilty for spending time with my family and not meeting my quota. If I make it back this year, it will be the first time in two years I’ve been home. I’m damn well making the most it. Back to text.
Playing in Puddles 