Petlover4life has roped CVN Editor jdb_educator into some strange things over the years. This one, we have to share. It is called a competition, and anyone who completes the task wins. Taking the info from the site, here are some details:
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over talent and craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. " Here is the site: http://www.nanowrimo.org/index.php?
In 2002, National Novel Writing Month had about 14,000 participants. Over 2100 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists. This year there are over 26,000!
jdb_educator told us his story of participation in the following:
This has been both fun and effective for this writer. Pet sent me the URL and I joined. This competition even offers possibilities for real life meetings with other writers through locally organized groups who choose to meet.
In brief, here is my plan with both successes and failures listed. I calculated that using the whole month, I would have to write 1,667 words per day to complete a 50, 000 word novel. I got the web address on the twelfth of November. With the Daily News, Weekly news, Cybertown activities, how could I do this? It was a conundrum. There was no way I could write for the contest daily. If I could have I would have to write 2,777.7 words per day! So I decided that a good, fun challenge for me would be to write 50, 000 words on ten scheduled days of writing! That is 5,000 words per day. How am I doing?
I have succeeded in writing on three of the five days I have scheduled so far. Two days I ended up doing those 'other things' that get in the way of having fun. Sixty percent success so far there. Each writing day I exceed my goal, if only slightly. After three days of writing, I have reached 17, 277 words, which came out to 27 pages in ten Point Times, New Roman type on the printout I am sharing with a few online friends, and real life friends who have expressed interest. Tune in next week for an update to this story.
