10-22-05 - What is NaNoWriMo?

I read an article in the paper about NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month gang, organization - whatever it is - and went to their web site and I liked their approach and signed up. Here's the gist right off their site:

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.

It's a contest and I've entered! All you have to do to win is cross the finish line. Everyone who finishes is equal. They have absolutely no standards. (And they donate a lot of money to creating libraries in Laos.) I just turned down an invite to a writers' event this weekend and I never do anything like that - not because I'm a snob, but because I don't like to think or talk about it and I don't think of myself as a good writer and I'm definitely not a good reader. When people are talking about reading all I can do is listen which is fine. But I just read tons of crap on the web and stuff that's emailed to me and a couple of bridge columns a day and a little Buddhist stuff here and there and a little other stuff randomly. Almost everyone I've ever known is better read than me. It's embarrassing when people come to book signings of mine and assume that because I've written a book I can also read them. I can tell by the way they look at me that they assume I have read more than them and know more than them - not everyone thinks this, especially not anyone who talks to me for a while. So I never feel at home in a writer's event. Not until now. These guys have got the right attitude for me. Like I said, check 'em out.

My agent, or the guy who used to be my agent when I wrote things he could agenticize, asked me recently why don't I ever write fiction, and I told him because I'm not interested. But now his question seems prescient. Now, I've signed up and announced on this site that I'm going to write a novel in November and that's fiction - the novel, not November - that's a month.

Anyway, I've read their funny FAQ page which includes the rules and decided what to write about and have a working title. The working title is August Winter Fiasco. One can come up with a title much before November - there's a place in my profile on their site for the title. And one can think about the novel to come and do outlines and stuff but not write anything till November. The punishment for breaking that rule is death so I will take it very seriously. August Winter Fiasco.What would the name indicate to you? Where does it take place? And what's going to happen?

Also, they have it set up so one can put up on their site what one has written so far. Should I do that? I kind of like that idea. I could post it there and link to it from here I guess or if that part of their site is closed to the public then I could post the daily tappings in both places - or neither. No - both. That would give my dear readers something to follow. And I could always go back and edit till November. I like the idea of not changing it after November - that's a very Keroacian thing to do.

Let's see - they say at least 50,000 words - more's okay but that seems enough for me so I'll try to write as little over that as possible. I could try to do exactly 50,000. November has 30 days so that would be 1,666.6 words a day. Would it be best to aim for 2500 words a day? That would take twenty days if the goal were reached every day and would provide for slow days or busy days or bad days or unconscious days or could allow for days off. They say 175 pages. That's 5.833 pages a day. At the twenty day rate that would be 8.733 pages a day as a goal. That's 285.7 words a page which is 28 or 29 lines with ten words each line. Right? I didn't check any of these figures which were arrived at quickly without mechanical aid but those seem like nice uncluttered pages.

So I'd better get back to this fundraising package I'm sending out - a letter and supporting material. I'll put it on the site too. The old ones are here. It's exciting reading too that tells about all the important serious things I do - and I'll be doing them too in November - visiting the lame, working on interviews with profound people, and miscelaneous Zen related stuff.

That's quite enough for now. Love, DC

PS - Just wrote eight hundred and thirty-seven words including these words.

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DC's comments on National Novel Writing Month

Here's a presentation on the NaNoWriMo book I wrote a year and a half ago
 - To Find the Girl from Perth
still seeking a publisher.