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November Is National Novel Writing Month

Yep, it's NaNoWriMo time again, and this is the fifth year I'll participate. I think I've only finished and hit my goal once, but that doesn't keep me from signing up every year. It's an opportunity to renew my resolve to write daily, and to work on projects other than articles and blogging. I don't even necessarily try my hand at fiction, though that's the scariest and the most fun. For me, just getting into the writing groove with a (now) huge group of fellow writers, has a persuasive power that I don't get from smaller groups and certainly not on my own. (To give you an idea of how large this group has grown, just over 3% of the group has donated and has already raised over a quarter million dollars to fund their Young Writers Program.)

I've written hundreds more pages during NaNoWriMo than I would have written otherwise, and every word has honed my writing skills. Some of them are even downright good, and someday I'll do something with them. I don't feel one second of energy and effort was wasted.

What about you? Are you signing up for a month of intense writing? It's really only 6.67 pages a day, and sounds manageable when stated that way. If you haven't take the plunge, do it! Tomorrow, I'll talk about how to proceed - as a pantser or a plotter.

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Dani Greer is a founding member of the Blood-Red Pencil, runs the Blog Book Tours classroom, and a related social site and blog, and now has joined the team at Little Pickle Press, a wonderful kidlit publisher with a strong environmental and philanthropic focus.

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Comments

  1. yep, I'm signed up - this is my second year and I was successful last year. This year I'm going for the rebel button and I'm going to revise for 50 hours instead of writing 50 thousand words. Ha!

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  2. I signed up too, and am really excited about it. This is my first time participating in NaNoWriMo. I'm itching to get going...all these ideas dancing around in my head. Can't wait until Monday!

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  3. Not signing up. Juggling too many things already, then add on federal jury duty and that's it for me.

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  4. I'm signed up for the first time. I'm truly terrified, but that level of terror brings its own sharp taste of excitement.

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  5. This will be my fourth year doing NaNo. The first & second years, I started cold on Nov. 1; last year I did a preliminary outline; this year? Either way, it always seems to come together once I get started. Good luck to those who are participating.

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  6. I signed up. This is my 2nd year. I didn't finish last year. I've started a blog, so I won't lose track of myself.

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