That’s right folks! It’s officially that time of year again! Get ready to put out a missing person’s report on all your writer friends, because NaNoWriMo is upon us!
In case you haven’t heard, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it happens every November. All over the world, writers buckle down to participate. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get 50,000 words written between November 1st and November 30th. That’s about 1667 words each day. Believe me, it’s not as easy as it sounds.
I’ve probably participated in NaNo about six times in the last 9 years, and I never end up submitting my work for credit at the end. Some years, I didn’t hit my 50,000 word goal. The reason for this is that I’m a big, fat, lazy procrastinator. Some years, I just got frustrated and gave up. But some years, I made 50,000 but the first 10k were character sketches, plot rambling, and random ideas. So that doesn’t really count, right?
This year, though, I’m better prepared. I started planning the novel in October (although really it was an idea I resurrected from the file cabinet of doom). I made charts and lists and character sketches and posterboards with sticky notes full of conflict. I’m freakin’ ready. Are you ready?
Cari Barnhill 
I just finished one and self-published it on Kindle. (Still reeling from it.) I think I’m going to take a whole year off (to read a few books, draw, get in shape, and clean the bathroom) and write my next book during NaNoWriMo 2014. I’m really looking forward to that, but I’m also happy about letting my brain rest and *just living* during the next 365 days.
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Yep, head down. Trying not to worry about how single-parenting for half the month is going to slam my best intentions.
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