Write a Novel in 30 Days?

It’s National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo), an event started by Chris Baty in the Bay Area. I never heard about this until now, but apparently, a ton of people participate in this by spending the month of November writing a 50,000 word (that’s 175 pages) novel. It sounds quite challenging and very exciting. If you’re thinking, like I was, how the heck can you write a quality novel in 30 days? Well, you can’t really, and it’s not what Nanowrimo is all about. The official website describes this:

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

I’m almost tempted to jump in and try it out myself, but maybe next year. After all, I’ve got a job and a baby. Wait, I can’t use that excuse because it turns out there are a bunch of moms who are doing this as well. Mary at Blogher blogged about this:

And even though so many of us mommybloggers have our blogs, our jobs, our kids, our carpools, and our schedule-juggling to keep us busy, we have decided to participate in Baty’s crazy scheme and also write a 50,000 word novel in the thirty days that make up this month.

Nuts, I tells ya! Nuts!

So who are these nutty mom bloggers? Well, for starters, there’s me. And here’s a list of others I know about. Feel free to drop by our blogs and offer us a word or two of encouragement. We need it!

Yeah, they are Nuts! But I’m definitely inspired and applaud their drive. Maybe I should try it out. Who am I kidding? I already lost out on the first 5 days. Maybe next year. For other nutty mommies and daddies out there, hey, you still have 25 days.

Here’s the link to the Nanowrimo site.
Here’s the link to Mary’s Blogher post.