Nano Nano

Yep, I’ve done my usual thing of spending ages (months & years sometimes) investigating the small print, worrying about how I’ll manage the minutae of things and suddenly plunging in blindly.

The translation of the above babble is that I’ve taken the plunge and signed up to take part in NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth this year.

I have never done this before.

I always sweat the small stuff on things. How does it work? But I write longhand, that’s twice the job if I have to type it up too? How do you register? I’m too busy. I’m not in precisely the right place at the moment. What if it all goes horribly wrong?

Two catalysts made me take the plunge:

• First, someone in the IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) mentioned in their October blog post that they were nano-ing and I replied that I’d never done it coz I was too scared. Thing is when I do something like that it’s almost a challenge to myself. It starts my subconscious mulling things over and saying, Why not?
• Second, the amazing Holly Lisle said (on the Holly’s Writing School forum), Anyone Nano-ing this year? I’m thinking about sponsoring a team… As it turned out, she was too late to sponsor, but she still put the team together and they’re such a good bunch, how could I not join in?

Now back to those other obstacles:

How does it work? You try to write approx 1,667 words a day and post your count on the nano forum, at the end of the month you upload the scrambled text of your novel & if you’ve hit the target, you’re a winner.

But I write longhand, that’s twice the job if I have to type it up too? There are ways around this (in the forum FAQs) but I’m going to tough it out and actually try typing straight onto the keyboard for a change. (Hey, it’s good to experiment with things).

How do you register? You log on the the Nanowrimo site and follow the instructions. (They’re actually quite simple).

I’m too busy. And when is that ever going to change?

I’m not in precisely the right place at the moment. Will you ever be? Let’s just wing it and see what we accomplish!

What if it all goes horribly wrong? So-bloody-what? Any progress is still progress; you don’t know until you try; plus that old adage about the only failures being those you never attempt in the first place (or whatever it is).

So, November should be interesting. There’s bound to be a post or two (or a million, if you include everyone else’s). (And apparently this can add to your wordcount;))