Sign up for Nanowrimo

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 painstaking 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.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2006, we had over 79,000 participants. Nearly 13,000 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.

Learn more.

Comments

[Michael]

I signed up, I must be mad! But I want to give it a go at least, I have a few story ideas.

[Bradley Woods]

I just signed up as well. I have been waiting a whole year to do this. Definently seems like a challenge for me. I thought I knew what I was going to write about but I am not so sure anymore.

[wandererchronicles]

Squee! NaNoWriMo is actually what got me into moleskines to begin with - I'd heard so many good things about the little notebooks on the NaNo forums that, with November fast approaching, I felt I needed one for myself.

From someone with two previous NaNo's experience - not having any idea what you're going to write about when you go into it is actually an advantage. ^_^ Like a plain paged Moleskine, NaNoWriMo is all about living without borders, rules, or lines.

[Doctor K]

I signed up too, and can't wait to get started. I like the idea of thousands and thousands of people around the world all writing at the same time, all putting their ideas down in this small window of time.

Like many people interested in notebooks, I write all the time. But there is something special about a "project" like the NaNoWriMo.

Good luck to all--only 50,000 words to go!