NaNoWriMo

source: nanowrimo.org

If you aren't a writer, you're thinking, what the heck is that? If you are a writer, you've no doubt at least heard of it. I'm participating this year in the most unofficial sense possible: I'll be reaching the word count for the month, to keep on track with Fearless. And since it's literally just around the corner, let's take a look at it.

NoNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is write a novel in the month of November, with a minimum word count of 50,000 words. Something like 300,000 writers will join in this year, and as a writer, I've been hearing the annual chatter build over the last month. Everyone's prepping. Everyone's getting excited. It's intense! Not to mention, could there be a more challenging month in which to dedicate your existence to novel-writing? With the holidays looming?

If you're interested, you can check out the official site here, and read the always-fun BuzzFeed interpretation here. I think NaNoWriMo sounds like a great way to get over the forever-unfinished-story hurdle. That's something I struggled with for years, and a month-long writing project like this would blast away doubt and boost confidence. The goal is not to write the perfect story, but to write a first draft, start to finish, one you can then edit and perfect.

What do you think? Anyone giving it a try this year? My goal is at least 70,000 words to knock out Part IV of Fearless, because I'm a glutton for punishment. If you're thinking about starting a novel, but need some incentive, it might be a great way to jumpstart your project.