NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo sounds like the babbling of a toddler but it actually stands for National November Writing Month. And yesterday I said I was thinking about joining in...

Well, I signed up. 

A few questions that I'm trying to resolve as October winds down:

1. Is the story going to be in first-person or third-person narration? 

For the non-English majors out there, this is the difference between "I went to the store" (1st person) and "Jilly went to the store" (3rd person). If I do first-person narration, will people think the story is about ME?? If I choose third-person narration, will people really connect with the main character?

2. From what point in the story is the action happening?

I'm not sure what the term is for this, but it's the idea that the story could be something that has already happened and is being re-told at a later point, with the advantage of hind-sight, versus a "this is happening right now" live-action story.

3. How do I start? How will it resolve? What are the big crises that drive the storyline?

4. What will I name the main character?

5. Where does the main character live? Is it a real place or a place I make up?

I guess that's not soooo many questions. One thing I have decided, I don't expect it to be good. I don't even want it to be the next great American novel or a best-seller. Low expectations, right?? This is supposed to be fun. I'll say that again. This is supposed to be fun!!!

I do love to read, however; so maybe all those books I've read will have rubbed off on me just a little bit. No matter what I hope this story will be something people enjoy and that they look forward to checking in with every day in November.


The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words between November 1 and November 30. That's about 1,500-2,000 words per day. I'm not sure how many pages this works out be. Maybe about 90?? So I'm thinking it's more of a novella (a word I love). Also, it's worth noting that this post is only about 500 words. I've been praised in the past for my brevity so we'll see how I do with the word count goal...

The story that I plan to tell is about a woman whose life has hit the skids and how she perseveres. Oddly, it's a story I've been telling myself since I was a little girl. I remember telling it to myself at bedtime forever. It was what I used to help myself fall asleep at night.  It always struck me as being a little weird (how many 8-year-olds do you know who enjoy cleaning so much they make up stories about it?!) and it's nothing I ever told anyone about. Why would I have? I thought it was totally boring. It put me to sleep.

Whenever I would think about NaNoWriMo in the past, trying desperately to think of a story for this challenge, I would come up empty. Then this past weekend, I started remembering this story, using it to soothe myself the same way I did when I was a little girl. It occurred to me then that this was perfect timing for NaNoWriMo. Obviously, there is some appeal to this story. Maybe there are others who would enjoy it or otherwise benefit from me telling it.


So, the deal: I am going to write my 1,500-2,000 words here, on the blog, every single day for a month, beginning next Tuesday. You can sign up on the right to follow this blog by email or "like" the page on Facebook. I'm getting super stoked to get started!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? Have you ever written a novel?