NaNoWriMo is FAST approaching! Be ready!

Yep. It's almost that time of year again. We're just a bit more than a month away from the start of the 2006 NaNoWriMo! For those of you who don't know this, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and despite the first word, it's actually open to all writers and writer wannabes who are willing to take a stab at writing a novel - or at least 50,000 words of it - in one month, thirty days. It starts November 1st, but if you plan to participate, you may want to get a few things set up before hand. Not big things, just little ones, like a basic concept, maybe an outline, perhaps a few cases of frozen meals and plenty of your alertness drink of choice.

You may also want to let everyone close to you know that you intend to withdraw from life for thirty days in order to have the best chance of finishing.

And I'd recommend you stop by the website linked to today's post (just click on the above post title) and buy a copy of "No Plot? No Problem" by the founder of NaNo, Chris Baty. And then read it from cover to cover. Follow the advice contained therein. I didn't last year and stalled at just 21,000 words. For the first part, reaching 1,667 words per day was easy, but by the middle of the second week I broke routine and spun out of control.

And don't hesitate to find a writing buddy who'll participate with you. The two of you can encourage each other through the slumps and the writer's block.

I look forward to seeing you there!