Monday, October 20, 2008

Two Weeks Notice…

Nov. 1 is the start of National Novel Writing Month.*

So in the next two weeks, sign up and mentally prepare yourself for the exciting adventure of writing a novel in an insanely short amount of time!

I did it last year, and although it almost killed me, I’m doing it again.

Why?

Because:

1) It was fun to see where forced writing would take me. Being inherently lazy, having a deadline really helps. And I didn’t have time to really plot things out, so my creativity was stretched.

2) No matter what else I didn’t accomplish last year, I can say that I wrote a novel—who cares if it was crappy!

3) I loved the sense of community with other writers from all over the world! It was nice to know that I was in the same self-induced stress boat as a guy from Japan and a woman from Australia.

And I want you to join me this year!

Go check out the site and sign up. I mean it!

It’s hard, but not too hard. And don’t give me the excuse that you’re not a “writer.”

If you know have to write, you’re a writer! It’s a simple as that.

All you have to do is write 1667 words per day for 30 days, for a total of 50,000 words!

That’s it! And then you can call yourself a novelist!!!

There’s no need to plan ahead. Last year I didn’t. I just dove in and let whatever happen, happen. This year, because I knew it was coming, I’ve been thinking of the general direction I want my story to go. But, I don’t really have any of the details worked out. I loved the organic process of the whole thing!

So, please, please, please sign up!

I’d love to have some friends to share the highs and lows of writing a novel…



*I'm planning on doing weekly check-ins on my "Poet by Night" blog. So, heads up!

7 comments:

Andrea said...

Liz you scared me...when I first read your title I thought you were leaving the world of financial aid! Glad to see I still have someone to vent to. Good luck with your writing!

Katie said...

Okay, I joined up (not the army, but to write a novel). I have no confidence that I'll succeed, but it could be fun to try!

Amanda said...

yikes is really all I have to say to this. I would love to commit because I think that if you are extending the invite, it is something worthwhile and will make me more Liz-ish, which is a goal of mine. I can't however in good faith do so because I don't think I could come up with 1667 words in a month let alone in a day. I will be a happy cheerleader though! Go team Novel!!

Liz the Poet said...

Yay Katie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You don't know how happy you've made me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Maybe all the exclamation marks give you a clue!)

We can totally support one another. And in a month, we'll be novelists!

Liz the Poet said...

And if anyone else is brave enough to sign up, let me know so I can put you as a friend on the NaNoWriMo site!

Anonymous said...

Ok I signed up! I think I added you as a friend too, if not there's some other lucky lady out there lol. Because my focus is THIS story and not just writing in general, I must say I'm happy with as much as I've done already.

Hey uh...roughly how many pages is 1600 words? Lol.

rachelsaysso said...

I finally signed up. Wahoo! I'm very excited to jump in.