Saturday, November 1, 2014

NaNoWriMo is Here!

Hey, look at that! October is over, Halloween is done, and Lizzie Lilac is nestled among the published books of 2014.

Now it's time to write something new.

If you're here at my blog you've probably at least heard of NaNoWriMo--short for National Novel Writing Month. It happens every November, and participants must start the work in November and write at least 50,000 words.

Last year I didn't technically win, but last year I wrote over 60,000 words in 2 SEPARATE WORKS in November. So I'm calling that a personal victory.

This year I have a lot on my plate, writing wise. That's in addition to the barely controlled chaos that is my life. But I don't have the time to devote 30 days to one book. So here's what I'm doing for NaNo this year:

I've decided on 7 carefully selected days to devote to my NaNo project. 7. SEVEN. That's 50,000 words in seven days, or roughly 7143 words a day. Yes, it's ambitious. Yes it's crazy.

But that's all the time I have to devote to a new story this November.

Thing is, I've done it before. And I can do it again. I'm choosing days that I don't have dr's or orthodontist appts for my kids or my husband. I'm choosing days where everyone else is either at school or at work, which gives me at least 6 hours of uninterrupted writing time. And all of these days are within the first 18 days of the month, so we'll know rather quickly whether or not I'm making it work.

And today, November 1st, is not a designated NaNo day. It's a Saturday, for crying out loud, and my whole family is home and I have priorities.