Today's the first of November. Just a few days more before we turn the clock back. Not far from Thanksgiving. Depending on how you count the days, this is the beginning of the holiday shopping season.
And today's the first day of National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a worldwide challenge -- this year, more than 300,000 people are participating -- to write 50,000 words in the month of November. The challenge's few rules are very flexible: writers should be starting new works of fiction, although planning and outlining are permitted. Because it's a self-challenge, the idea is to end up with a reasonably coherent narrative, so there's no upside to writing the same word 50,000 times or copying takeout menus over and over again. At the end of the month, the prizes for completing the challenge include a printable certificate, bragging rights, and most of the first draft of a work of fiction.
This year, a few of us are taking up the challenge and making the long haul to 50,000 words. You can keep track of how we're doing with those little progress bars on the right, and each of us has dropped a comment below to describe our NaNoWriMo projects, other places you can track our progress, and maybe a word or two of NaNoPhilosophy.
Keep an eye on our cheering section over there, and feel free to cheer us on, make us accountable, or join the fun yourself!
