If you hang out around a bunch of writers, chances are this month you will hear a lot of talk about NaNo. Several writers have all ready asked me if I’m “doing” NaNo this month. Unfortunately, the answer is “No”.
I love the concept of NaNo–writing 50,000 words in a month–but this year I had too much going to squeeze a new book out in one month. To really benefit from NaNo, a writer should be prepared with an outline and story idea so that when November 1 arrives you can get down to business and write the required 1600 plus words a day you need to write in order to accomplish your goal. I have a book idea–one I’ve been incubating for several years now, but it deals with going crazy in the desert and I have just not made the time to research mental illness enough to do justice to the story. So instead of doing NaNo this month, I’m working on revisions to the book I finished last year on the NaNo challenge. Called The Beach House, it is a sweet story about families and how, even though we think we know everything about each other, we often have no clue who our relatives really are. I love the story and will spend this month working on edits.
For the rest of you writers, if you are so inclined, check into NaNo. If you have a story burning inside you that’s begging to be written, now just might be the month to get busy writing!
