Hot Cocoa and Cheez-Its

What could be better than writing a novel?

Why, writing it in 30 days, of course!

Welcome to NaNoWriMo – short for National Novel Writing Month. It comes around every year. November is the month people from all over the world frantically write 50,000 words. That’s the goal, to write 50,000 words in a month.

Fifty. Thousand. Words. In thirty days.

Could you do it?

Sure you could! I’ve done it a few times. If I can do it, you can.

It’s an excellent time to be reminded how much fun it is just to write. No plotting, no editing, just writing. Because when you are trying to write 50,000 words in thirty days, there is no time for anything else. The key in November is to get the words out and meet the goal. Anything else can wait for later. No more excuses for why you can’t write. You just have to do it.

My plan for NaNoWriMo this year is to write 2,000 words per day, and 10,000 words on the weekends. This should put me ahead of my goal, even though I am taking a week off for vacation (FLORIDA, HERE I COME). And then if I fall short some days, it’ll be okay, because I’ll be going over on other days. The best way for me to succeed at NaNoWriMo is pre-planning. I’ve learned this the hard way. Oh, I’ve won (met the goal) before without having any planning done ahead of time. But it’s so much easier when I already have the outline of the story, and the outline of each chapter, and events planned ahead of time.

And a healthy supply of hot cocoa and Cheez-Its. Because that’s my NaNoWriMo fuel.

Now, today is the first day of November, the first day of NaNoWriMo. I’ll tell you more about my NaNoWriMo experience this year as I go. But for now – I must write!

What are you writing for NaNoWriMo?