NaNoWriMo Is a No-Go

Well I tried. I joined the National Novel Writing Month campaign with over 200,000 others, all of us trying to write a novel from start to finish in the 30 days that hath November.

I failed.
But, on the bright side, I did write about 30,000 words. That's more than half of the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words. So I've got that going for me.
And I did it in a month in which I also moved house. There was even a point where I couldn't find my laptop, a pen, paper, or anything else that would allow me to write.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Lots of excuses. I do have to say it was fun, even if I didn't finish by the deadline. I liked the idea of thousands of others hunched over keyboards with me, trying to get thoughts into some sort of order.
I also enjoyed the emails of encouragement and the hints to unblock my brain. So I will keep writing, just like I always have. But I'll do it now with a bigger sense of all the others out there who are trying to keep their creative muse happy, too.
Now for a sneak peek at tomorrow's post ― I'll have a review of the new Janet Evanovich book, accompanied by a recipe sent to me by Ms. Evanovich herself. Stay tuned!

30 Days to Make It Write

If you are a member of NaNoWriMo, you are probably in the throes of writing your heart out today.

It's National Novel Writing Month, with over 200,000 people trying their best to write a novel from beginning to end between now and Nov. 30. Participants in the largest writing challenge agree to produce 50,000 words in one month (roughly 1,600 words per day). There are no prizes, other than personal satisfaction, and perhaps a published novel. Both Water for Elephants and The Night Circus were started during National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo).
I am taking part in this year's event, and I hope I can keep it up. If you'd like to participate, too, just go to www.nanowrimo.org to sign up. Once you create an account, you can receive help planning your novel, join local groups of authors who are also writing, and receive online encouragement from published authors.
If you aren't quite up to that challenge yet, you can try other writing incentives. For example, WriteOrDie.com offers three levels of "encouragement" for writing. The first level gives you gentle reminders to write. The second level plays an annoying sound until you write. The third level, which is hilarious, will delete all of your writing if you don't keep up with your goals.
So make a very early New Year's resolution: Write!