NaNoWriMo

It's National Novel Writing Month, known by writing geeks as NaNoWriMo. During the month of November, participants huddle over their keyboard in an attempt to write 50,000 words in thirty days. And, no editing. The point is to get out a complete first draft you can polish up later.

Official participants can join at nanowrimo.org. The site provides motivational support and networking with other writers. I've considered participating before, but this just isn't the way I write. I edit as I go and when I get stuck, I read back what I have or take a break. I've heard it can be quite freeing to get rid of your inner editor, though, so I'm giving it a shot this year.

50,000 words in thirty days is daunting. That's about 5 pages a day. I want to participate, but I'm not putting that much pressure on myself. I plan to hook up with the group of NaNo "rebels" on twitter who have personal writing goals that differ from the competition, but hope to benefit from the motivational aspect.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.