NaNoWriMo 2010

Ah November. The month when writers go crazy trying to spew out 50,000 words of fiction. Some people call it the suicide mission or the invitation to lobotomize your head. But still a lot of people are joining for the thrill and challenge of creating their own novel (or as Jerry Cleaver calls it, the 'shitty first draft').

I almost forgot that it is NaNoWriMo season. Blame it on work, family, the kids, even the church and the state. It would be nice to devote time to write stories again. Even if I do get to join, I might not have enough time for sleep.

The last time I joined, I set myself a target of writing at least 1,670 words a day (1,670 times 30 days equals around 50,100 words). Things would have been easier if I had an outline of the plot or how I spread out the conflict and resolution across the number of chapters. But I decided to let chaos reign and spew out whatever came to my mind. Hence the output was an abysmal draft of 50,030+ words.

Good thing NaNoWriMo focuses on quantity and not quality. And there's even a local community of NaNoWriMo writers willing to support you on your one month writing endeavor.

I might consider joining the next NaNoWriMo event next year. But I have to make preparations before November, like working out the structure of the story, the characters, and possible conflicts/resolutions. That alone would take another month for me.