Summer is over, and I have finally concluded my annual creativity hibernation and am starting to write again. Hibernation? you ask. Doesn't that happen in winter? Not to me. Every summer, I find my creativity wanes to the point where I can barely write anything at all. Not even blog posts. The only explanation I can offer is that my muse likes to go on summer holidays, but she tends to return all fresh and glowing in October. I know better than to ask her where she's been, but without missing a beat, she returns every autumn and assumes her familiar place next to my ear, takes a soft breath, and starts whispering.
So here I am blogging again after the summer drought, and what better topic to discuss than the perfect way to launch yourself back into your craft: NaNoWriMo!
For the uninitiated, November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. It's when everyone from first-time dreamers to seasoned authors pull together to wrangle their muses in a sort of crazed, Sadie Hawkins sort of fashion so they can Write Their Novel. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Mind you, they don't have to be good words...in fact, the idea is that you don't focus on quality at all and just write. At the end of the month, you upload your document, the web site validates the word count, and you celebrate.
I like the idea of NaNoWriMo for so many reasons. One, I am a big fan of the idea of Just Write. Two, I think community and structure are a huge help, even though I've always done without either one. Three, if more people can at least get introduced to the addiction of writing, we might help some wonderful new writers to begin their careers.
Sound intriguing? Let's do it! I have 30,000 words on Madness already (book four of The Soterians series), but my goal is to finish the first draft, which I'm targeting at 80,000, so I have another 50,000 to go anyway.
What do you say? You in?
