No NaNoWriMo

It’s October and astute calendar watchers will no doubt notice that subsequent to October is November. November means many things. Thanksgiving. Thursday Night Football. Black Friday.

It also means it’s time once again for National Write a Novel Month, known by the quirky acronym NaNoWriMo.

NaNo 2010 was a very good experience for me. I got a good start on Dream Chaser and I learned about my writing process. But the best thing that came out of NaNo was Saucy Ink. This is the online writers group I’ve been privileged to be a part of over the last year. These fellow writers have grown to be ifriends and I’m grateful for all the lessons they’ve helped me learn over the past year. We write, and we critique each other, helping each of us grow as writers.

I won’t be doing NaNoWriMo this year. Instead, I’ll be focusing on writing a second draft of Dream Chaser. My goal is becoming an author. The difference between an author and a writer is the author has had a book published. Doing NaNo on a brand new story doesn’t help me reach my goal. Finishing and revising Dream Chaser does.

So I'll be on the sidelines cheering those people who do NaNoWriMo on. If you are thinking about trying NaNo this year, Chuck Wendig has a great article on the 25 things you should know about NaNoWriMo. I encourage you to check it out.