NaNoWriMo: What it means and why you should be doing it
NaNoWriMo, if you haven’t heard of it, stands for National Novel Writing Month. Although, over the years the month-long challenge has become somewhat of an international source of inspiration for writers across the globe.
So what exactly is NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo challenges writers of all ages to commit to writing 50,000 words in one month! It does sound a bit arduous at first, but when you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) it’s surprising how many words you really can wrack up in even just an hour a day. You’ll probably have to tear yourself away from your storytelling world some days. Or some nights, when you bed is calling to you at 1 am. Oops.
Why you should join in
The main purpose of NaNoWriMo is to get you writing – not editing or planning or getting lost in your plot (or excuses). The idea is to set aside time every day for actual writing. Which if you’re like me, you probably don’t do enough. See often, writing is something we put on the back burner because we can’t seem to justify the importance of it to ourselves. It’s too ‘fun’ to be considered work and there are so many “more important” things we really have to do in a day. But that is exactly why you should! You can’t really be an author if you’re not actually writing, can you? So NaNoWriMo helps you do exactly that, for just one month! And by the end of it, you could have an entire first draft of your future best seller.
How you can prepare
There are many different ways to prepare for NaNoWriMo. Some people are pantsers (start with a blank page and just start writing). Some, are planners (have a full in-depth outline and pages and pages of backstory). Lastly, you have you plantsers who are a mix in between! Whichever you are, the main thing is to actually write and to enjoy yourself!
Now, we have a few tips for you to get into the NaNo spirit!
- NaNoWriMo itself has many events before and throughout the month for like-minded writers to meet up, get inspired, and write together in cities across the world – so get involved! (you can see the events on the official NaNo website)
- You’ll find the most success if you find a writing buddy to help keep you accountable.
- Start getting your inspiration going with a writing playlist.
- Set up your perfect writing nook to get in the zone.
This year, we’ve made the perfect NaNoWriMo checklist to get you started – so check out the blog post and get your free checklist now!
So, what are you waiting for? Sign-up to the challenge now! NaNoWriMo starts on the 1st November!
