November is a good month for RV writers to jump-start their writing. November is National Novel Writing Month and also National Blog Posting Month.
For NaNo the idea is to write 50,000 words in the month of November. That averages out to 1,667 words a day- actually about an hour to hour and one-half's worth of writing. The idea is to get the words down on your computer without editing. You can get a rough draft of a novel and then later go back and edit another month. This is George's 3rd year and he turns off his spell check, ignoring any errors and just writes.
You can do preparation, if you want. George has his outline done, as well as character sketches. You just can't have any part of the novel written ahead of time. When you reach 50,000 words - towards the end of the month - you submit it for an official word count. You can take a copy of your manuscript, change all the letters to x or z using the find and replace function, and then submit that. If you are worried that someone could steal your idea or want to make absolutely sure no one reads it, scramble it up; you'll still get an accurate word count.
I have to confess. In 2006 I too wrote 50,000+ words but it wasn't a novel. I did essays each day. This year I plan to do something similar.
The reward for completing NaNo is a nice, framable certificate and the feeling of satisfaction of having made a big commitment and sticking to it!
NaBloPoMo provides another kind of discipline. With NaNo you must make a total word count by the end of the month. You could write 24 hours for 5 days and make it. For NaBloPoMo, you must blog every day during November - the word count doesn't matter. Actually you can pick any month to do this, however in November, they will have a drawing for prizes for those who do post every day. Each month they suggest a theme, however, following it is optional. You do have to have a blog, however you still have one day to set one up if you don't yet have a blog of your own. There are free blogs like Google Blogs and Wordpress if you want to start one up. Do a search for "free blogs" and several choices will come up.
So, writers - take advantage of November to get words down on paper. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, or whether you've been wanting to start a blog or post more regularly, November is an excellent month to go for it. Both sites have forums/blogs to get encouragement and meet other writing friends. I'm calamityjaimie on both sites so look for me! George is georgieB on NaNo. Let us know if you are participating! Jaimie Hall Bruzenak






