"For skillful and godly Wisdom is better than rubies or pearls,
and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared with it." Proverbs 8:11 Amplified

Saturday, October 24, 2009


Countdown to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Over 100,000 people around the world commit to spend the month of November tied to their chair, fingers on their keyboard, snacks and drinks close by, to put out the incredible number of 50,000 words, that’s 1667 words per day. Why you may ask? Because it is there; not, that is just a clique, something we don’t want in our writings.

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1st. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.” This means no editing as you go along; just get the words on paper or computer, depending on your material of choice.

I had a desire to write and had written some stories but a whole novel was something different. Could I do it? Could my mind come up with a story idea that could last for 50,000 words? Would I dump everything in my brain and find I could only come up with 10,000 words? NaNoWriMo 2008 provided me with the perfect set up to find out if I could do it. I didn’t finish my novel, but I did crank out over 80,000 words in 30 days. Of course an awful lot of it is pure junk, but there is some treasure in there too. During those 30 days I was in a world of my creation. It was hard to come out of that world to do laundry, cleaning, preparing meals, errands, etc, so it did not get done as frequently as usual.

The main reason I was able to stick with it and produce was because of the support that NaNoWriMo provides for those who sign up. They have a web page with constant updates, emails of encouragement from authors are sent on a regular basis, you have your own page for your personal data and a wonderful graph that shows your word count, which you enter daily. Most cities have support groups headed by Municipal Liaisons. These wonderful people set up “write-in” meetings. Imagine a room full of people and all you hear is a soft click, click all over the room, this is what a write in sounds like.

It’s 2009 and I am going back to my cave. So my friends, if you don’t see much of me or hear from me, know that I am in my room, locked away from civilization to create. If you want to know if there is anything you can do to help I have a couple of suggestions: come over and clean my house (but please do not disturb me), bring over meals for Bob and me, bring me candy (sugar free hard candies and chocolate).

I will try to post updates of my progress on my blog, so check back once November 1 arrives.


19 comments:

Jim Marr said...

I pray for you and everyone else taking this challenge. I pray for stamina, creative ideas, and a wealth of words, words, words. It will be exciting to follow the progress--that is if you have time to keep the blog up to date!

God Bless,
Jim

Diane Marie Shaw said...

I appreciate your prayers Jim. A wealth of words, words, words, how appropriate when my blog name is Need More Words. :)
Diane

Anonymous said...

I am so excited I can't stand it! this will sharpen our typing skills too! Hurry up and get over here to Panera! I love you Diane, I'm glad we're taking up this challenge together!

Ellie Kings said...

Hi Diane,
I loved your answer so much, re: Wendy's Friday ? that I had to know who you were. You had me laughing out loud. That was a brilliant answer! Thank you so much for all the info you posted here re: NaNo. I had heard so much of it, but hadn't had the chance to check it out. All the best to you this coming month!
Ellie

Tana said...

I'm in! However I'm in dire need of words myself ;)

Eileen Astels Watson said...

I'm joining you on this challenge. Doing research for it now.

Diane Marie Shaw said...

Ellie, Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope you decide to participate in NaNoWriMo. It really is a fun adventure.

T. Anneand Eileen, Glad you to know you are jumping in for the challenge. Let me know your user names so that we can follow each others progress. My user name is Shortstuff.
Diane

Terri Tiffany said...

You go! I love hearing this determination and motivation!

Diane Marie Shaw said...

Terri,
Thanks, now if I can weave the bits and pieces in my mind into a complete story I will be ready to roll.
Diane

Jan Parrish said...

Beautiful blog background. I'll be praying for you as you write your next best seller!

Diane Marie Shaw said...

Thank you Jan. I appreciate the prayers. I do want this to be good, once the editing is done of course. I desire this, from the depths of me, to give glory to God. I don't want to write for any other reason.

Jody Hedlund said...

Good Luck! It sounds like a wonderful way to get the creative juices flowing! I wish I could participate, but I'm in the middle of rewrites! I'll look forward to hearing how it goes!

DenaNetherton said...

I really admire you for doing this. Keep it up. I'll be encouraging you over the month.

Diane Marie Shaw said...

Jody, I hope your rewrites flow out of you, no starts and stops, just a river of the right words.

Dena, I appreciate your prayers during this month, especially since I still need to flesh out my characters. Who are these people running around in my mind?
Diane

Tamika: said...

Hi Diane!

I'll be in the cave right next to yours. This is my first year doing NaNo and I so excited.

I am expelling my internal editor and giving it all I've got.

Happy writing...

Diane Marie Shaw said...

Tamika,
Have fun with NaNo. It is a rush.
Diane

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Shortstuff, mine is EileenAstels. Hope you buddy me.

Diane Marie Shaw said...

Eileen,
I added you as a buddy. Two more days. Yikes.
D

Terri Tiffany said...

Diane, Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. I know the next two years will be difficult in my family but we do have a goal and are so happy with the decision. I so appreciate your kindness!