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November 1 is only 15 days away, and I’m totally stoked!
Why, you may ask, is that day so special? Because it’s the last day of the Dorchester Publishing/Textnovel.com Next Best Celler contest, and the Divas can finally stop whoring for votes?
Well, that too… but even better, it’s the start of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, as it's fondly called. This annual ritual brings writers around the globe come together, figuratively and often literally, to write 50,000 words novels in 30 days. That’s an average of 1,666 words a day – no sweat for experienced fast drafters, but a seeming windmill tilt for tortoises like yours truly.
Already the countdown to the madness has started. Already writers are signing up at the event’s official website, http://www.nanowrimo.org/, which went live on October 1. Already the Northern Virginia Municipal Liaisons, or MLs, have held two plotting get-togethers. Already the D.C. MLs have asked people to RSVP for the kick-off party.
Once the whistle blows, participants will start meeting for write-ins, like the ones my friend BeaJay hosts on Saturday mornings in the food court at a local mall. Participants will challenge each other to word sprints on website’s forums. Whole regions will challenge each other. Two years ago, D.C. challenged Ottawa to a capitol-to-capitol throwdown. When our friends up North kicked themselves some Yankee butt, beating us not only in average words but in total word count, we had to make a video of our group singing “Oh, Canada” – in English and French!
This will be my third try at NaNoWriMo. While I have yet to achieve the 50,000 words needed to declare myself a “winner,” each time I wrote significantly more words than my normal pace, and I had a lot of fun. But this year, I’m determined to win, with the help of my not-so-secret weapon – Dr. Wicked’s fiendish “Write or Die” program, http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html. I figure if the Red Sox can finally win the World Series, I can finally win NaNoWriMo. Watch my dust!
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2 years ago
5 comments:
I have written so much since August, my fingers are going to fall off. I have decided to give myself NaNo off this year.
But you know what, you're making strides and improving your speed and honing your craft and that's what it's about. You're still a winner! Just this time, you'll hit your word count. *g*
Holy cow! I had no idea about this place! What a wonderful idea! You divas are so good at what you do. I'm excited for the first as well, this is Kimberly O'Connell by the way from the site. I know I'm out of the running but I am so proud of myself and everyone else for having the guts to get out there and do it. My new personal goal for November 1st is to have a score of 100, it was always my goal from the very beginning and it looked so far away and now it's close! I'm thinking about Nano as well but I just don't know if I could even attempt that! It would be fun to try though... thanks for having this site! What a great group!
Hi Kimberly! Welcome to our lair!
I hope you find stuff on the blog that helps you out. We found each other via Textnovel, and all live in different areas of the US. We may not win Dorchester, but we certainly got the prize of great friends and cohorts.
It takes a lot of courage to put stuff up for all to see and vote on (it kinda feels like standing in line during gym class, waiting to get picked for soccer, doesn't it?)I've read and subscribed for your story way back when, so can't do it again. Of course, we all know that getting your name out there gets more votes, so good luck!
Hi,
I just jumped in really late with the Text Novel contest as I only just heard about it. But it's such a great idea, I thought I would give it a go.
But, I have to admit I love NaNo, I did it last year, and even though I didn't hit the 50K, I did write a novella. Maybe this year I can write my heart out and get to the finish line :)
Hey any of you Divas wanna buddy up with me for NanoWriMo? My Screen Name @ the site is laundryhag.
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