Nano Editing Month

So you've finished the first draft of your novel. If you're anything like me it left you feeling triumphant, elated... empty... faced with the big question: What next? My response has always been to move quickly onto the next project. Which is great. Unless you actually want to finish something. Maybe publish some day...

Enter National Novel Editing Month (NaNoEdMo). Inspired — perhaps coerced — by National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), NaNoEdMo gives novelists the support and inspiration they need to take their novel to the next level.

The mission, should you choose to accept it: to complete 50 hours worth of solid editing, revising or re-writing — roughly enough time for one bonzai edit of a 50,000 word novel — all in a mind-boggling 31 days. Here's how it all breaks down:

• One author/editor — you
• One manuscript — the completed first draft of your novel
• 31 days — March 1-31
• 50 hours (and that’s not 50 hours mulling plot twists — that’s 50 hours of typing)

Insane? Perhaps. Doable? Definitely. Especially when you’ve got a bunch of other crazy folks doing the same thing right alongside you.

• Sign ups begin February 15
• Editing begins March 1

Clock your 50 hours by midnight March 31 and you’re a winner. You may not have reached the end of your editing tasks, but you will have made a solid start.