Nanowrimo
National Novel Writing Month.
Are you considering the writing of a novel? Is the only thing holding you back a little something called procrastination? There is a remedy for procrastination.The Remedy is
NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month
The theory is ridiculously simple; all you have to do is write a novel in a month. If not a novel, at least 50,000 words in the month. That amounts to around 1,600 words per day approximately. You can write your novel at home, or with other WriMo’s in your area. You usually have the choice of morning, afternoon or evening get-togethers.
The novel idea that NaNoWriMo has is to use the month of November to write a novel.
This, if you consider it, is the perfect month after March. March and November are two non-months. Working on the same principle, there are two non-days in each week, Tuesday and Thursday. Think about it; what happens on Tuesdays or Thursdays? Those are the two days you’ll book hospital or Doctor appointments because you don’t want to take time from the stimulating days.
Mull it over; what have you got to lose? What else were you going to do apart from worry about Christmas?
Procrastination
I entered as a contestant back in 2009, and actually won. I wrote 53,000 words as you can see from my winner shield. Why didn’t I do anything else with the half finished novel? Well, to be honest I thought it was a load of crap and not worth the effort of finishing. I had no sensible idea of what I wanted to write and the 50,000 words were a disjointed collection with little cohesion and a distant goal.
This year I know what I’m going to write about. I have most of the prime subjects’ names and backgrounds. I have most of the chapters laid out and most importantly I know how the book is going to finish – I think. This book I’ve been thinking about for years, and when I say I have most of the novel worked out, I mean the first half of it. This doesn’t necessarily mean the book is going to work, but I’m all suffused with excitement just thinking about it. I still need to think of a title, but I’ll use a working title for November.
Oddly enough, I read my 2009’s 50,000 words and I was quite shook up with it. It made sense and I may have wasted 5 years, but I’ll put that down to procrastination.
Self Publishing
I am going to finish this novel, and when I finish it, I am going to publish it – so there. This does not necessarily make me an author, not in my book anyway.
I know 3 authors. One of them actually has a book published, and I would classify him as an author. The other two friends have self published their books, and to me they are writers, plain and simple. There is a vast difference between an author and a self-publisher; the main difference is that the author does not have his basement or loft filled with unsold books.
The 2 self publishers I know are dear friends, which is why my spare bedroom is filled with their books. I suppose that a ‘spare’ bedroom is the ideal place to store the ‘spare’ 190 books left over from the 200 printed books that were available at each book signing.
Self publishing has always had me shaking my head at the pointlessness of it all, but if nobody publishes my latest NaNoWriMo book, I intend to self publish – with a difference. There won’t be any book signing and there won’t be any books left over, which is just as well as there is no room for any more books in my bedroom, and the creaking of the living room ceiling gives me the shivers now and then.
No, this self publishing will be via e-publishing. If it sells it sells, and if it doesn’t sell, nobody will be discombobulated. There’s a good title, the Discombobulated Novel.
You have 26 days to prepare for NaNoWriMo so extract the digit and log on to National Novel Writing Month.
