Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.” Read more about the group here. 

Last year, I tried NaNoWriMo with a friend, but I wasn’t very well prepared. She finished with flying colors, but I quit about 1/3 way through. This time I’m preparing sooner, so I’m ready to hit the floor running–er, typing–on November 1. Since I write for children, 50,000 words is too long. But I have ideas for two 25,000 word series books I want to try, so I think that’s what I’ll do. (It may not qualify for their rules–I’ll have to check–but getting the writing done is more important to me than winning a prize.)

They have fun radio spots on their home page, you receive encouraging emails throughout the month from some very famous writers, and they’ve organized local groups if you want to get together socially with the other NaNo writers in your area. Lots and lots of support available, and we all need that. 

If any of you decide to give this a whirl, let me know. Stop by my web page on NaNoWriMo (everyone gets a free web page) and let’s encourage one another.