NaNoWriMo

Today I signed up to the NaNoWriMo write a novel in a month challenge. It feels quite exciting. The idea is to start on November 1st and have a finished 50,000 word first draft by midnight on November 30th. What fun! I think it will be a good thing for me to do. You are not supposed to edit any of it. The idea is just to write, even if it is utter crap. Just to have the sense of fulfilment of having completed a 50,000 word novel. You can edit and try and make good of the crap at a later date, if you want to. But it's meant to be a great way of kicking off the cobwebs and allowing yourself to write for the simple joy of it. I'm a great procrastinator. I think this will force me to finish something, rather than re-edit it a thousand times and never get it done.

I haven't a clue what my “novel” is going to be about. I was tempted to use something I've already been working on, but I think I would be too precious about it. This needs to be something new. I will try brainstorming in a while. (I can only brainstorm with paper and pens. I need to be able to circle stuff and draw lines and add bits to other bits. It doesn't feel organic at all if I try to do that on a computer. And it takes me way too long.)

When I get going, I will be posting snippets(what a great word) on here, along with a running word count. (It says this will help spur me on to keep at it.) I'm fairly confident I can write that many words. They may not be great words, but who cares? It'll be a good exercise in self-discipline, if nothing else.