Dedicate November to Writing your Novel

WRITTEN BY KRISTA BEAUVAIS

Have you ever wanted to write your very own novel, but think it’s impossible? Think there’s no time to do it? No support available? Well, NaNoWriMo may just be your answer!

Power to my laptop – ready, set, write!

I Can’t Write a Novel in Month!

That’s the easy view to take. But tens of thousands – maybe hundreds of thousands – of people around the world do this every year.

They dedicate November to doing exactly this: writing their very own novel. All 50,000 words of it!

Am I’m about to join them for the month of November in something called NaNoWriMo!

What is NaNoWriMo?

Thanks to an interview the other day with Joanna Penn, who runs the super brilliant resource for indie authors called The Creative Penn, I learned about NaNoWriMo. It stands for National Novel Writing Month.

Joanna said that this is THE thing that really helped launch her into writing fiction. She now has a popular fiction series, with a new series on the way. And she thanks NaNoWriMo for getting her started.

With an accolade like that, how could I pass it up?

Solution to my Problem

I just happened to be chatting with Joanna just a day or two before this whole thing actually kicks off, which is November 1st every year, and figured it might be a cure for my little problem…

What problem is that?

Well, I have a terrible problem with getting distracted from a single task because I have a million ideas floating in my head all of the time – and I want to pursue them all.

But I can’t.

And sometimes I find myself in a whirlwind of activity, without being productive at all, simply because I can’t focus on ONE THING.

That’s what’s happening with me right now.

We’ve just finished our 15-month RTW weddingmoon (which was super amazing) and we’re finding ourselves back in London with a gazillion social engagements and projects that need our time, energy, money and attention.

Queue struggling to stay focused on one thing!

How NaNoWriMo Will Hopefully Help

I think that by committing one month to one single aim that I have to fit around everything else, then there is a shot at maybe getting this done.

Wodara is all about living the life you WANT – and I want to write AND FINISH a novel. So I’m grabbing onto an opportunity while I’ve got it.

There seems to be lots of support available by getting involved with this. For instance:

There are enormous communities of fellow writers out there who are also doing this – and they chat online and offer support.
Also, I just received this in my inbox! How great is that – a little letter of encouragement from one of my favourite authors. I think these sorts of things arrive regularly in your inbox to keep you spurred on – or at least I’m hoping they do!
There are also things called ‘write-ins’ where local writers all meet up together at a coffee shop to write and throw ideas around and support each other. I’ve already scheduled myself into one next Wednesday.

So, not only can I be energized to write my own novel, something I’ve dreamed of for years, but I also get to meet other like-minded people in my own neighbourhood.

I’m sure there are heaps of other little perks as well, but I literally only signed up yesterday – so we’ll have to see.

By November 30th…

I should have finished a novel.

I don’t know what it’s going to be because I haven’t even figured that out yet. Some people have been working on ideas for all of October and have already posted that they’ve finished their 2000 word allocation for today.

And there’s me: I still haven’t even figured out what I’m going to write!

So if you fancy getting involved, you won’t be far behind me. If you decide to join (it’s free) then be sure to add me as a writing buddy. Here’s my profile.

One Month Later…

It all kicks off today, November 1st.

One month from today, I hope to have started and FINISHED a novel of 50,000 words. It doesn’t need to be edited, but the first draft needs to be finished.

Please don’t laugh and point fingers if I fail. But feel free to spur me on.

Here’s to November. To NaNoWriMo. To adding a huge heap of work to an already heaping plate. Here’s to seeing if I can actually do this…

I’ll try to forget that my husband thinks I’m nuts – and he’s probably right. But I’m going to do it anyway. Life is short. I’m living the life I WANT – not the one that seems doable!

If you’re also doing NaNoWriMo this year, please let me know in the comments below so I can add you as a writing buddy. I’m going to need all the help I can get!