Do You NaNo?

November is quickly approaching.

With that, also comes the beginning of NaNoWriMo.

What is this NaNoWriMo that I speak of?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month.

It is a particular and crazy experience. In one month you write a 50,000 word novel.

Of course that is really fast and you will end up with a lot of garbage, but that is kind of the point. The idea is to get the writing flowing without worrying about editing everything as you go. There will be terrible writing, but there will also be ‘a-ha’ moments that will be golden. At the end of November you will have a beginning, something to work from, expand, and polish.

I had two main story ideas bouncing around in my head lately. One I used for a short-story contest on NPR so I can’t use any of it for anything else at the moment. So, I guess it will be the other one. It is a concept that has intrigued me for a while and I’m excited.

My problem is my preparation is behind. The rules for the month state that you can’t have anything actually ‘written’ of the story, but you can outline and plan before hand.

I don’t have an outline yet. I have a vague overall story arc, but nothing concrete.

For work I have been having to rewrite a manual for one lab, and update another one. So, I’ve been trying to get it done before November rolls around and it hasn’t left much time for planning. Perhaps I will be a ‘pantser’ (you know, just write ‘by the seat of your pants’ and see where the story takes you rather than plan) this time and just write it as I go.

So. . . do you NaNo?