Just around the corner is the popular NaNoWriMo writing challenge. It's challenge is to write 1667 words a day or 50000 words in a month.

Just around the corner is the popular NaNoWriMo writing challenge. As soon as November 1^st comes round it's time to sprint off the starting block. NaNoWriMo stands for National (although that should be International) Novel Writing Month.

Nanowrimo.org is an American based writing site. It's an initiative that crowdsources writers into cheerleading companions. It's challenge is to write 1667 words a day or 50000 words in a month. The project must be a new one, not a continuation of something you have already started and the 50,000 words should (mostly, apart perhaps from a few notes) be written during the challenge, not cut and pasted in to bulk up the figures. What you work on is up to you but (hint) it's called National Novel Writing Month.

But you're too busy right? You have work and family commitments, you hardly have the time to writie 1667 words in a week, let alone in one day. That's what I thought until I spoke with author and busy mother Sally Clements back in 2009 and she encouraged me to give it a try. With four children under eight at the time and a husband who ran (and still does) his own business it was an act of lunacy signing up but I did it and I managed to succeed both in 2009 and 2010 in reaching the required number of words. I now have a completed novel to show for it (a comedy space adventure – a kind of Douglas Adams for women) and a literary novel that I'm now editing.

The difficulty for busy people is finding just when to make the time or take the time to write, especially something as long as a novel. Sometimes it's also difficult to ask for and justify the time you would like to spend on writing, especially if you have many commitments. I'm going to tell you why Nanowrimo might just be the excuse you need to get down to something you love and have something to show for it at the end.

Why it might just work

A specific goal: The beauty of Nanowrimo is that it has a built in target that you have to aim for every day. Targets help you to focus and to pace yourself. Each day on the Nanowrimo site you record your wordcount. There are built in graphs that show you how you are progressing each day and where you should be. It may happen that you have to play catchup at the weekends or it may be that your idea has been burning for so long that you speed ahead once released out of the trap.

A specific time span: It's just a month and in this hemisphere, one of the darkest, coldest months of the year. It's also good from the point of view of friends and family that there will be an end point to this, that they know that even if you are not around as much during this month you will magically reappear on December 1^st in time for Christmas. It also helps you know that there is a finish line, like a marathon, there is an identifiable end.

Cheerleading

The power of cheerleading is not to be underestimated. The wonderful thing about Nanowrimo is that when you sign up you can buddy other people and see how they are progressing. They present many tips and helpful blog posts along the way to keep you on track. There are also Municipal Liasons who organise NaNoWriMo groups in different towns and you can check for one near you. You may also be unexpectedly cheerleaded by your family and friends who will be in awe of the challenge you have set yourself. I was surprised by how much my family got behind me. My eldest son asked me each day whether I had achieved my daily wordcount or not.

How to prepare beforehand

Find your idea.

WHat are you going to write about? You may have one idea that's been niggling at you for years and if so, that is FANTASTIC because that idea has been percolating in your subconcious for ages and you are going to have a chance to get all those ideas on paper. If you are not sure what to work on, look through newspapers, old notebooks, think about the subject matter that REALLY interests you. Write down 5 possible dilemmas that your characters may need to solve. Decide if you are going to write for adults, the young adult (YA) market or the childrens market. In the latter cases NaNoWriMo might present you will a first draft of the correct length.

Give your subconscious a day out

Musing on your story and characters before you begin is creating a well of associations and references on which you can draw whi le writing. This will help save time because the details and relationships between place, object and people will come thick and fast when you go to write, you won’t have to spend time making things up, you will be tapping in to associations already made. Later in the month though the well will begin to run dry, you will begin to burn out. So you need to make space for the subconscious to beaver away again whether its a day out walking or a cultural event, you need to take a relaxed swim in the subconscious and refill with further associations you can draw on.

Get to know your characters

Do you know who they are? Why are they together, how do they know each other, what do they really think of each other? What do they like for breakfast or are they just pretending. Who do they look like? The woman who works at your corner shop? The bus driver? The striking self-possessed girl walking down the main street? While there is time left, while you travel to work, bring the kids to school, go to the football match or the  nursing home, take notice of those around you, the little quirks of behaviour that interest you, the blast of white hairy eyebrows, the way the businessman examines his shoes. Think about the past and future of your characters. Knowing your characters gives you more to go on and will help you add words to your manuscript. Write everything down, tear out pictures from magazines or articles from the paper.

Let people know

Let friends and family know that you are taking part in this challenge so that they can get behind you and can be a little bit more flexible in their demands. Ask the children to help out more to give you a chance to meet your goals, explain to your spouse that it's something important to you and how much you appreciate their support. However next week I am going to explain to you how you can keep this project from impinging too much on your other commitments and find a happy balance.

Clear the schedule

For reasons I will explain next week you will still need to factor in down time, exercise and so on, but where possible cut back on any social commitments just for this month. If you a parent you can batch prepare meals in advance to cut down cooking and in general do anything that will make your life more straighforward. You may find that some of your initiatives are worth carrying forward.

What do I do now?

If you are interested head over to www.nanowrimo.org to find out more and to sign up.

If you are still afraid,, go over and sign up anyway, no-one is going to come after you, it's free to participate. If you want to buddy me, I will be signed up as RandomOptimism.

Is anything ever going to come of this?

Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants was a NaNoWriMo novel, so yes, it is possible. And even if, at the end of it you've only written five or ten thousand words. It's five or ten thousand more than you had before and like all first drafts it may be rough but there may be some gold in there and best of all you were determined about your writing and gave it a go.

Next week's NaNoWriMo post

Next week I will talk about how to actually get an average 1667 words on the page, even on a busy day.