Every year, writers celebrate the creation of stories by honoring National Novel Writing Month: November.
I know, it’s only June. But it’s never too early to prepare, right?
NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit organization that encourages writers to get writing. They offer support, community, and a kick in the pants to help you bring your novel to life.
National Novel Writing Month believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.
Every year, in the month of November, you can sign up, create your project, set your goal, and get encouragement from other writers. You can set any goal you like, though most tend to shoot for a goal of 50,000 words, a novel-length work.
You don’t have to write an entire novel in a month. But if you think you can do it, this is a great way to try!
Naturally, every writer has a different system, and no one’s process is exactly the same. Not everyone will write their best work this quickly. It’s easy to see how NaNoWriMo could be misinterpreted as promoting quantity over quality.
But if you haven’t written a word of your novel come November, you might as well write as much of it as possible when you first start out. Some work better under a deadline, and others prefer to go it at their own pace. That’s why NaNoWriMo allows you to set your own goals and tweak them if you want.
Too busy in the month of November? Try the April or June Camp NaNoWriMo!
I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo every November for the past three years or so, and it’ll definitely get you churning out pages. I’m happy with the material I got out of it, so it’s absolutely worth a shot!
Happy writing!
Rachel Sandell 