Among writers there is a challenge during the month of November, one that seems daunting to even those of us used to cracking out huge volumes of words. It is National Novel Writing Month, affectionately known as NaNoWriMo. The challenge: to crack out 50,000 words in only thirty days. That’s writing an entire novel in only a month.

I’ve always wanted to try the challenge, but while working full time, the time commitment seemed pretty daunting. This year though, as October 29 rolled around, a critique partner casually mentioned she was taking the challenge and had her outlines all ready. With two days left to register, and a story itching to come out related to local headlines, I did one of those, “Eh, what’s there to lose?” kinda shrugs and signed up. It is free. You don’t have to share what you’ve wrote. And the support group surrounding the challenge sounded fun and inspirational.

I chose a project I’d already started by a few chapters, but those 4956 words could not count towards the challenge. (My manuscript is currently over 55k words.) I scribbled out a one page rough outline the night of October 31, and then I waited. Are there any other writers out there who feel like their fingers get itchy when they really have something they want to get down? Anyway, the next few weeks went something like this, and I learned a lot about my writing habits:

There’s a lot of zero word days on that list. That’s what my work schedule does to me. What I was surprised at though, was how many words I could crank out in only a few quiet hours. I figured out that at times I was writing at between 27-36 words per minute, which is pretty insane considering I got C’s in Computers in high school because of my slow typing speed. I didn’t know I could pour out a story that fast, but apparently this one was REALLY ready to come out. There’s still a bunch of typos in there, and I’ll have a ton of editing to do, but to get through writer’s block last week and find the holes I got through one full read of the text, and it’s not too shabby. It’s got a solid foundation at least, and that’s what NaNoWriMo is all about.

I fully encourage anyone who has wanted to attempt to write a novel to participate in NaNoWriMo next year. Not that you can’t write a novel through the rest of the year, too! This is a world wide event. You can network with writers of all levels, not just pros. There is no pressure to share your work or compare yourself to others. The whole point is just that you get a few words down every day until you have your creation at the end of the month. It’s fun. And hey, teachers and students…there is a Youth NaNoWriMo Challenge that you should definitely check out.

Are you wondering what this mysterious novel that I wrote in 24 days (yep, I beat the deadline!) is? I’m calling it The Last Farm. It’s about a farmer who is debating whether to take the very lucrative offer a warehouse developer has made for his property. And since I can’t only write one plotline, there’s a super fun treasure hunt backstory going on as well. The story is about the challenges farmers are facing, the complexity of the encroaching warehouse development boom, and most importantly, family. It will be a long while before I have it ready for the world to read, but considering I teared up at the end of this one, like I did Knightess, I think I better make that my next goal.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Write On!

P.S. Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter if you haven’t ready. Now that NaNoWriMo is over, I’m getting the First Edition of Tournament Whispers ready, and it’s going to be full of fun bonuses!