It is October. In exactly 4 weeks time NaNoWriMo 2010 officially begins. If you have not yet heard of NaNoWriMo, then let me tell you all about it. It is a challenge set up for writers to become novelists. The goal is to write a minimum of 50 000 words in a month. Writers, both published novelists and wanna-be novelists, from all around the world count down the weeks and months until NaNoWriMo. The event has become so popular that there are all sorts of spin-offs from it. Now not only do novelists have an event but young writers and scriptwriters too.
Writing 50 000 words in a month may seem like a crazy idea or an impossible dream to some of you reading this. But if you have a dream, you have to do crazy things to fulfil it. Dreams do not just come true without some effort of reaching for them by the dreamer.
Do you consider yourself a dreamer?
Do you consider yourself a writer?
Many would say that the two go hand in hand. Writing is seen by many as a dream or a way to pass the time. But I am a writer. This is my identity. Yes, I have a job that pays the bills. At the end of the day though my daily job does not define me. My writing however does define me. It is the truest form of me. So for those left-brain type nay-sayers out there I beg to differ with you. Writing is not a hobby nor a way to pass my time.
This year I am participating in NaNoWriMo. I attempted my own version of NaNo in June this year which actually seeded the idea for my WIP Trilogy. However, I had no support, no buddies, no forums, no hash-tag twitter groups…I had myself, my trusty Macbook, an idea and a self-challenge. Did I succeed? Yes, I think I did succeed. I got a lot of writing done and had the foundation of a trilogy.
But participating in NaNoWriMo 2010 is going to be even better than my own June attempt. This event has a website, it has support, it has writing buddies, it has forums and it has hash-tag twitter group.
Are you a writer?
Do you thrive on challenges?
Do you have a dream?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then by now you will already have signed up and registered for NaNoWriMo 2010.
If you are a blogger, you can also join and link up to the NaNoWriMo Blog Chain. Through here you can link all your Blog Posts about NaNo and the days and weeks leading up to it.
If you do register, look me up @ last_lines.
I am going to use a story-arc that has been tickling my imagination for some time. There are two methods of thought to tackle NaNoWriMo. There are the pantser variety of NaNo writers and then there are the plotters. Which do you fall into? I am somewhere in between the two. I do love letting the flow of a story carry me along to strange and distant lands. But I find that the ocean of imagination can be a vast and stormy zone if I don’t have some form of compass. So for the next 4 weeks I will be plotting a way through the seas by constellations of character and story arcing.
I am also going to use the next month to test out a new software program developed by one of the sponsors of NaNoWriMo. The software is called Storyist. I have been using Scrivener since May this year and love it. I have heard some amazing things about Storyist so this year I am going to use this software for my NaNo novel.
October Sundays will be about blogging about all things NaNoWriMo related as well as journaling my points of inspiration / frustration in preparing and plotting for NaNo kick-off.
My creative juices are bubbling away. Now the only difficult thing is the patient waiting for November to begin and NaNoWriMo to kick-off. It is a good thing that I have other writing to focus on for my WIP or else I might find myself cheating and wanting to start on the NaNo novel. Don’t worry: I am not going to cheat. 4 weeks and counting…..
Happy NaNoWriMo plotting / prepping!
© All rights reserved Kim Koning.
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Kim Koning 
I’ll look into Storyist, thanx for the info
I am loving Storyist. As much as Scrivener is a fantastic program I prefer Storyist. One plus with Storyist is that it is a Word Processor already “novel” formatted as well as an exceptional project management tool. You will enjoy it. You can use the trial version that has been offered for NaNoWriMo if you want to try it out first.
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Congrats on coming into your first NaNoWriMo! I was so ecstatic last year and I thought some of my enthusiasm would have gone this time around but it hasn’t. I’m just even more eager to go for it and do even better than I did before.
I also view myself as a writer. It is who I am and not just what I do.
Thanks for your comments on Quill Cafe! I’m really trying to make it into something that is interesting to writers as well as readers as I know there are plenty of book review blogs out there.
Can’t wait for NaNo! If you want to add me as a writing buddy, I’m cinnamon.quill http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/478696
Thanks for the mention of Storyist. I’ll check it out, though I can’t imagine ever abandoning Scrivener. I do plan to publish ebooks, however. Just from a fast look at the site, Storyist looks like Scrivener on steroids.
I’ll have to think about the blog chain. It’s a great idea, but having to remember to link back may be more than my overloaded brain can handle.
27 days to go!
Hi Catana, Thanks for the comments. I have only started using Storyist this weekend. The set-up is very similar to Scrivener but it has more novelling structure: In terms of character sketches and story arcs it is excellent. I do love Scrivener especially for the research option. But Storyist is looking good too especially for the needs of the NaNo novel.
As for the blog chain: If you link up to it, and get the widget for your site; your posts will automatically link back to it and you don’t have to do it manually each time you post.
Let the NaNo blogs begin! Nice intro to the event – and congratulations for having done your own mini-NaNo already this year!
I’m blogging about this today, so if you have any tips to share, hop on over. And best of luck.
Thanks Roz!
I will definitely pop over to your blog later on when it is up.