Are you writing a book? Or have you ever dreamt about it? Then you should know that November is National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write 50,000 words from November 1st – November 30th. Whether you are in school, working, raising your kids or retired, perhaps November of 2013 is the month you will start your novel?
If you have thought about writing, but never started, this website may provide the structure you need to begin. If you have never considered writing, you may want to try it simply to enrich yourself. In their FAQs they say that, “The act of sustained creation does bizarre, wonderful things to you. It changes the way you read. And changes, a little bit, your sense of self. We like that.” I couldn’t agree more. Writing a novel has changed not only how I read, but how I observe the world. It’s enriched the colors and made the subtleties in life more pronounced. More delicate. More delicious.
I never considered writing a book until the Spring of 2009. On Sunday, April 5, 2009 I sat down. Turned the TV off and began to write. I hadn’t written anything but memos & presentations for work, and thank you notes to family and friends since college. That night I wrote 4,626 words, which is now Chapter 1 of my debut, award-winning novel, Lindsey: Love & Intrigue. The process of writing brought another world alive for me – much the way reading a great book brings a world alive. (Check out this blog to see my favorite authors.)
You may think that writing 50,000 words in a month sounds daunting. I think it is a perfect goal. I tracked what I wrote every day in a spreadsheet. In my first month I wrote 50,442 words. I had guessed that my book would be 150,000, my published version is about 125,000. It took me about 4 months to write that initial, very rough draft of the manuscript. It’s worth pointing out I spent a year editing it before sending a draft to my publisher. It has been one of the most rewarding projects of my life. I can’t encourage you enough to give writing a try. Even if you never want to publish your work, the process or pouring yourself on paper will benefit you in deep and meaningful ways. One of my favorite Author’s, Dean Koontz says that it takes him 6-months to a year of 10-11 hour days to write a novel, depending on the length.1
To get more information on this program you can go to: http://nanowrimo.org/ to sign up. It is free to sign up and it’s quick and easy to do so.
Add a comment here in my blog or on my FaceBook page and let me know what you plan to write. I’d love to hear from you.
My regular readers know I close each blog with a quote. Since I am talking about writing today, I will use my own quote for the first time:
“Life is about progress, not perfection. Dream big and work hard.”
Kimberly Kolb
– Author of Lindsey: Love & Intrigue
1 http://www.deankoontz.com/writing-qa/
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