It’s NaNoWriMo Time!

National Novel Writing Month, more fondly known as NaNoWriMo, is back! Writers, both professional and amateur, hunker down for thirty days of exhausting, frustrating and exhilarating madness. Having participated twice before, I’m well aware of the folly of attempting NaNoWriMo. You must be willing to throw caution to the wind, write like a fiend every day (even when you don’t have time to write or have run out of ideas, LOL!), and change your expectations about what kind of “novel” you’re going to end up with. It’s a very focused and intense experience, and I’m looking forward to trying it again.

This will be my third time participating. The first time I got my 50,000 words finished, but since then I can’t bear the thought of going back to re-read what I wrote. The second time I stopped after 9,000 words. I guess the timing just wasn’t right and I was just too busy to put the effort in. So cue up NaNo #3. Despite having a part-time job, a blog that I intend to keep going through the month, two kiddos with homework and activities and needs, and some volunteer projects that require my attention, I’m going to give it a shot. (I even ordered the t-shirt, so now I’ll feel terrible if I don’t finish!)

So, I’d love to know if you’re participating! To get ready, you can check out my Top Ten Things I Learned at Camp NaNoWriMo.

The always entertaining Chuck Wendig has more NaNo tips than you’ll know what to do with. He also has this post about building characters. And some inspiration about getting started with NaNoWriMo. What you should really just do is follow his blog, because he’s going to be giving lots of pep talks this month, the kind that kick you in the ass and make you feel guilty if you’re not writing. And you can purchase a specially priced bundle of his writing guides until the end of November here.

Author Susan Dennard (Something Strange and Deadly) has some great tips too. She’s been in the NaNo trenches more than once, and gives lots of great advice here.

And here is an excellent video from awesome writers Clay and Susan Griffith (Vampire Empire books) about the five questions you must answer first in order  to write a successful novel:

And I found this funny and motivational song called “The NaNoWriMo Song”:

Good luck, writers! And if you want to be my NaNo friend, my member name is tamsparks🙂