Are You Ready for November and The Start of Another NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writer’s Month — has begun again.

Photo by Jodie Cook on Unsplash

In 2004 or 2005, I was introduced to National Novel Writer’s Month — NaNoWriMo.

Every November, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to reach 50,000 words of writing in 30 days.

While that’s a lot of words — it’s not unreasonable. Breaking it down, 50,000 words is slightly more than 1,666 words a day.

Multiple professional writers — myself included — strive for 1500 words a day. Adding another 166 is no big deal.

For me, NaNoWriMo initially served as the impetus to write more overall. When I tried my hand at using NaNoWriMo as the spark for more writing in 2005, I got less than 20,000 words in before I was stuck and didn’t finish.

The next time I took a serious stab at NaNoWriMo, I chose a new tactic. Following a good friend’s suggestion, rather than write fantasy or sci-fi, I’d write the story of my accident.

This would be the first time I completed the contest and “won”, passing 50,000 words. In time, I did some editing and shared The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Trip to the Post Office. This humorous narrative is the story of my surviving a hit-and-run as a pedestrian, my recovery…