November is upon us... and so comes the much loved (and also much dreaded) NaNoWriMo. For those of you who don't know, National Novel Writing Month is when all sorts of people get together during the month of November to fill themselves up with as much stress as physically possible by telling themselves they can write a full-length novel in 30 days, while still going to work and doing their daily life business.
Yah. That's right.
I've participated for about...4 years now, and not once have I ever come close to completing my novel. It's still super fun to participate though, even if I don't always get very far. I relish the challenge, and it's fun to take a look at the writing community gather together for one month of madness as we all scramble to throw down a novel. I've read some really amazing books that have stemmed from previous NaNoWriMo challenges (like some of Hugh Howey's stuff), which gives me hope that it's a possible challenge, and that what comes out at the end isn't always a bunch of trash I wrote feverishly in an attempt to fill my word count.
I actually have a story premise this time, and although I'm diving in once more with no real plan or outline, I'm having a blast just letting my mind wander and letting the words flow out. Right now is about getting the words down, I can fix them all later.
It's giving me something to think about and focus on that's tangible - I wish the word counter on the NaNoWriMo site was functional all year round. Something about seeing my word count go up on all those graphs really pushes my competitive side. I just want all those badges!
Now I understand why people love unlocking achievements in video games. Word counts are my achievements.
Happy November!