Thirty Days of Insanity: Why I'm Joining NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and next month, I’ll be participating in the challenge. The goal? Write a 50,000 word book in thirty days.

Last year I joined in the challenge for the first time, but I didn’t complete my MS (Love, Simplified), because unfortunately, last November was also my first try at formatting two novels for paperback. Needless to say my first attempt at NaNoWriMo was not a success.

This year, I have no books to format and I am going into the challenge with more writing experience and I know what to expect from NaNoWriMo. Since the challenge is so intense, the best way to be successful  is planning. And lots of it.

So far I have a rough outline of my novel, I’ve familiarized myself with the writing software Scrivener and I’m starting to gather research for the historical novel I plan to write.

Why join in the “30 days and nights of literary abandon?”

Over the summer I joined the third round of the writing challenge A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80). ROW80 was the first writing challenge I’d ever enrolled in and completed.  It was great to set goals, stick to them and reach those goals–ahead of schedule. I think committing to a schedule and writing 1,667 words each and every day for thirty days will feel even more awesome to complete.

Another reason I want to join in the challenge is to stretch and grow as a writer. Plus, I can’t wait to get the street cred that goes along with being a NaNoWriMo winner.

To my readers, have any of you ever participated in a challenge of some type in order to stretch and grow? For all my fellow writers out there, are you joining NaNoWriMo this year, or have you in years past?

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