It's NaNoWriMo Time Again [National Novel Writing Month]

Articles

It's NaNoWriMo Time Again [National Novel Writing Month]

By Claxton Graham
Oct. 26, 2005

This will be my last column for Useless Knowledge—at least, until November 30 or 50,000 words, whichever comes first.

For the second straight year, I am participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. The challenge to NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days or less. My effort last year, appropriately entitled The Writer’s Nightmare, was one of nearly 6,000 manuscripts that reached the sacred word count. The goal isn’t to turn out the Great American Novel, although that can certainly be done; a number of participants have had their work published after doing the challenge. Rather, the idea is to accomplish something so audacious in a short period of time and have fun doing it.

In order to hit 50,000 words in 30 days, it requires writing an average of 1,667 words per day. That means if I have a day where I only write 500 words, I have to crank out nearly 3,000 words the next day to keep pace. And that involves doing very little, if any editing. So it’s understandable that a little sabbatical is in order here.

That doesn’t mean that I’ll be abandoning you altogether during NaNoWriMo. On the contrary, I still plan to take time out and browse the cornucopia of congenial, complimentary and contentious commentary that makes Useless Knowledge so great. And rest assured that if I see something worthy of a rebuttal, I’ll deliver it. Just don’t be surprised if it comes a bit later than normal.

Okay, people, you’re on your own. Now have fun and play nice! And while you’re at it, visit the National Novel Writing Month website, at http://www.nanowrimo.org

------------

About the author: Claxton Graham has written a number of articles for Useless Knowledge. He works as a business systems analyst.

Email: scifiwriter8502@email.com

Tell a friend about this site!

------------

All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED!