jay/day

I'm sure there are many "one day" novelists out there in the jay/day community, as in "one day I'm really going to write a novel." Well, that day (or rather, that month) has arrived.

November 1 is the start of National Novel Writing Month. Your goal? To write a 50,000 word novel between now and November 30th. I'm participating, and so is Eve Luppert. Any other jay/day-ers who would like to jump over the cliff with us?

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.

To find out more, visit NaNoWriMo's website here.

Here is a copy of the Novelist's Pledge. Print it out, date it and sign it. Pin it up on the wall for everyone (especially you) to see.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your novels!