From the exact moment this is posted, it will be two days and fourteen hours until NaNoWriMo. Or exactly 3,720 minutes.

It’s coming.

And I’m so excited!!!

For those of you who pay attention: yes, today is a Monday and I usually post on Thursdays. But not this month, folks. For November I will be posting every Monday with NaNo themed content–prompts, pep-talks, and commiseration galore–as well as my usual Thursday posts. For me, NaNoWriMo has always been about trying something new–this bi-weekly posting is new for me, we’ll see how it goes!

What will your new be? A lot of people’s reasons for not doing NaNo is based on incorrect facts. I’m not here telling you that you have to do it–I’m just going to tell you how you’re missing out, and why your reasons for not doing it are wrong. Because I’m nice like that.

1. NaNoWriMo challenges you to prioritise. It challenges you to do the impossible. Or what you think is impossible–because if you believe you can, then you will. 50,000 words is no small task. I’m not going to tell you it’s easy, because it isn’t. It’s not supposed to be easy–easy doesn’t make you improve.
2. It’s a month long journey of pure commitment to your writing. It’s not just your characters that go on a journey–it’s you. Moments of success, moments of rock bottom. You will hit all of them. Thirty days of writing, thinking, and dreaming, about a story. Maybe that’s not an encouraging thought, but if you’re me, then life gets in the way of writing–there’s just no time. November is that time–you owe it to your writing.
3. The rules exist to be broken. NaNoWriMo isn’t some elite writing competition for writers. It’s a personal challenge for everyone. You write the words, you win. Yes, there are still prizes, but there’s no limit on them–if you succeed in your personal challenge, then you’re a winner. Don’t want that challenge to be a novel? It doesn’t have to be. Don’t want your word goal to be 50,000? Well, that’s a little harder to alter–the site thinks you’re doing 50,000. But you can be creative. I don’t mean cheat–you’re only cheating yourself. But if you devise a clever system of blog posts published to words written and stick to it until November 30th, then you’re a winner in my eyes.
4. NaNoWriMo is the biggest reason why you’re reading these words. I never would’ve considered starting a blog, or maybe even calling myself a writer, if it hadn’t been for NaNo. I believe “success” is the wrong word, unless you call a dozen scrambled manuscripts and one self-published book a success. But I’m trying, and I wouldn’t have any manuscripts if it hadn’t been for NaNo. I’ve always been a one-chapter writer–write a chapter, lose interest, start over on something else. This is my 11th year doing NaNoWriMo, and I believe it’s quite literally changed my life.

Do NaNoWriMo.

There, I said it.

If you’re still here, after that rant, I applaud you. I care a lot about this event–I believe my friends have all gotten tired of me badgering them about it every year. As a sort of thank you, here’s the vague idea-grain of the novel I so-far plan to write:

Name: ??? (Sometimes my NaNo novel starts with a name. This year is not that year)

Genre: Fantasy-ish. Having had a very long detour through dystopian, 1980s reality, and failed sci-fi, I’m going back to fantasy. Maybe so far back, I go right past and hit surrealism. Who knows.

All I know is there’s going to be spooky elements. And a big house. Possibly an MC who isn’t human. I came up with this idea exactly one week ago, which compared to my usual year+ incubated NaNo ideas, basically means I have no idea what I’m doing or where this will go. But I’m feeling Neil Gaiman and Franny Billingsley vibes, and I like it.

Go on, join me. You know you want to.

 

Points if you noticed my new site icon! I love it so much I’ve also put it in my side widget –> as well as a word count widget for NaNoWriMo that I found here.