Every November for the past several years I’ve vowed to jump into the fray and do a little thing called National Novel Writing Month–or NaNoWriMo.
For those who haven’t heard about this little gem, each November a world full of creative and driven writers from various countries, lifestyles and representing every genre imaginable band together with one goal: write an entire novel of at least 50,000 words (or an equal word count in short stories, poetry, etc) in a month.
That’s right: an entire novel. In 30 days.
Why? Well, the simple answer is: to win.
And what do we win? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. 
Except for the pleasure of being able to say that we, are writers, and have a nice, shiny, new 50,000 word novel to show for it.
In addition to the bragging rights, the winners of NaNoWriMo get the chance to have fun (albeit, the kind of fun that usually involves being alone in a room while lobbing encouragement at your new friends over the Internet) and to bond with thousands of people who have joined you in your quest.
It’s a combination of the quest, the success and the comradery that have always lured me to NaNoWriMo.
I’ve had several years in which I signed up, some in which I even wrote something. One year I proudly patted myself on the back and complemented my determination at having written twice as much as I had the year before. Truth be told, that accomplishment only amounted to 6,400 words, but damn-it, I’d doubled my previous word count, and that was an improvement, and nobody would tell me otherwise.
So, after so many miserable and half-assed attempts to conquer this great white thing that is NaNoWriMo, I was determined that this year…I would succeed.
Right now, I am only half-way into my quest. The most beautiful part of this journey is that 1) I’m still writing, 2) I’m close to where I should be with my word count and 3) this amazing story I’ve had about bootleggers in the 1930’s is finally in development.
So, if you don’t see or hear from me for the rest of the month, I’m on a quest and at the end of it, I hope to be wearing a crown fashioned with the words of my latest accomplishment….
