For those who aren’t already aware of the pure awesomeness that is National Novel Writing Month I feel the need to inform you of what it is. Basically, during the month of November, crazy people (like me) attempt to write 50,000 words in thirty days. I’ve only won a handful of times — possibly less, I haven’t kept count since starting school — but I can tell you that my published book Witch-Born came out of NaNoWriMo 2008.
If you’re familiar with that book then you know that it’s actually something like 104,000 words all together, but that’s hardly the point. The point is that the first half of the book was done in a one month and the second half — which always takes longer for me given the need to tie all the plot lines together and that … ahem … I tend to have a lot of action — was done through the month of December. After that, I took a year or so to edit it. (That’s really not that long when you count the months where Alpha Readers had the manuscript and I was left in suspense until I heard back from them.)
But why am I talking about National Novel Writing Month in August when it’s not official until November?
Because the crazy people over there at the Letters of Light Foundation host multiple events throughout the year. These events include Scriptfrenzy and — you guessed it — Camp NaNoWriMo! This Camp starts TODAY!
That’s right! If you’re a glutton for punishment, or if you love words and want to string them together into some strange, convoluted plot where the antagonist becomes the protagonist and the maiden in distress turns out to be a troll in disguise … well then, head over to Camp NaNoWriMo and get started! It’s free, it’s easy (relatively) and it’s fun. Your domestic animals may get neglected for thirty days and you may forget to bathe once or twice, but it is otherwise harmless.
Personally, I’m in summer school, I have a child, one cat, and a full-time job … but I signed up anyway. I’ll likely lose (again) but my brain needs a break from the projects already on my plate and, quite frankly, I’ve had this science fiction novel simmering in the back of my mind for about six months now.
So! In the spirit of Camp NaNoWriMo, I have made a new page where I will post snippets of the work. I warn that these will be grammatically terrible and might have strange last names like JoHanna I-Don’t-Know-Yet, but there will be some form of accountability on my part.
AJMaguire 