Signing up for my first #NaNoWriMo

I have officially completed my graduate diploma in Creative Writing. Although I haven’t received the certificate yet, it’s a done deal as I’ve finished all my assignments and handed the last one in on Wednesday this week. It feels great completing the course and I learnt a lot. But now is the scary part: to try and put all that learning, including what I learnt in the magazine writing courses from the Writers’ Centre, into practice.

The best way to begin, I figured, would be to jump straight in.

It’s therefore almost perfect that November is almost upon us as it means NaNoWriMo is about to start. I have never done NaNoWriMo before but have seen other writers and bloggers do it. I used to prefer NaBloPoMo. But given that I’ve been brimming with ideas and not done much about them, I figured this would be a good place to start. Even if it doesn’t amount to anything, at least I’ll have more words in the end than I have now.

What is NaNoWriMo? It stands for National Novel Writing Month. A community of writers aim to complete 50,000 words this month. It’s quite obviously not the length of an entire novel but it’s a way to get into it.

What am I aiming for? I don’t have big goals. I don’t think I’m going to be published anytime soon. I just want to write and get my ideas on paper in a structured manner and then assess what it looks like. I am also aiming to hone my writing skills and then, my editing skills.

What am I hoping for? I guess while I don’t have big goals, I am hoping that I get a somewhat decent story that I can work on in the next decade or so. In any case, it will still be 50,000 more words than I currently have. Or have ever had for that matter!

Since I’m a complete novice in this area, there are some other posts I’ve read about NaNoWriMo to help inspire you to participate:

Jodi talks about reasons why you should dive into NaNoWriMo

Allison shares authors’ views about whether you should plot or not

The Grammarly blog shared a post on how you can prepare for writing a novel

Jess shared her experience from last year

K. M. Weiland discusses how NaNoWriMo helps you become a better writer throughout the year

And in case you were wondering whether to take the plunge, Elizabeth Haynes discusses why it’s worth a try

If these posts don’t motivate you, the fact that several writers tweeting #NaNoWriMo and pulling their hair out certainly should! Or else, just to keep a friend company while going through the same. If you want to add me as a writing buddy, please do so. I’d like the company.

So tell me, are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year?

Do share!

***Linking with Grace for FYBF and with Jess, Karin, Sam and Shannon for The Ultimate Rabbit Hole***

Until next time,

Cheers!!!