NaNoWriMo

Are you wondering that maybe I went off the deep end and that I think  I am communicating with Mork from Ork?

That's ok if you do.



But, really, I am not.



Then, what the?



NaNoWriMo is acronym for National Novel Writing Month.


It happens every November. Beginning on November 1 and closing on November 30, people who sign up for NaNoWriMo dedicate themselves to writing a 50,000 word novel.

Yep.

In one month.

To be a part of NaNoWriMo, you set up an account on their website. Daily you upload your words and NaNo keeps track of them for you. The website also helps you to find support groups in your area.

A good example of NaNoWriMo success is the novel Water for Elephants, that became a movie. Can you imagine? I am blown away by this fact.



Inspired by friends who have achieved the NaNo goal, last year I thought, hey, why not? and signed up.


Even though I attended "write ins" at Galion Public Library, I was not able to stay focused on my work. The main reason was that I did not understand how to organize writing a book. Most of my NaNo time was spent working on character descriptions and, well, a story line to make the book interesting.

So this year, with last year's experience as motivation, I asked the library to schedule a "pre na-no" workshop to help people like me. Rachel, my wonderful editor at the Galion Inquirer, has agreed to lead these workshops.

Will I be successful this year? Only time will tell. To tell you the truth, part of the goal of starting this blog last January was to train myself to be dedicated to writing daily. Until the last few weeks, I feel satisfied with myself. I wrote even on days that were full and I was tired,  and, more impressive to me, making sure that I had blog posts scheduled to publish while I was on vacation. Adding setting up at art shows and cider time to my schedule messed up my good record, and I reverted back to "writing in my head", because even on days when I did not post here, I had words that I wanted to share. I told myself that I was "too tired" to blog, but in reality, I was just facing burn out.

Knowing these things, I am determined to keep November's slate as clean as possible. Sure, it does not take all day to physically write 1,666 words. What gets in the way is too many things that need attention and fracture my focus.

Orchard season will be over. Evergreen Season does not start until the end of November. Can I treat NaNoWriMo as my new 'job' and see it to completion?

All I know is that I am going to give it my best shot.

Marcheta *deadeye