Nano . . . what?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my goals during my last leave of absence was to write a novel during Nanowrimo.

When I mention this, I often get asked, "What's that?"

Nanowrimo is short hand for National Novel Writing Month.  It is an exercise in novel writing started by Chris Baty in 1999 with a handful of people and now more than a hundred thousand people around the world attempt to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.  At least that is when Nanowrimo traditionally occurs.  The nanowrimo people are trying to get it going in other months as well.

It's all totally free and it's a blast!  If you've ever thought about writing a novel, you should give it a go. All you have to do is sign up on their website, and on November 1st start writing.  There are regional support groups that have write-ins, and a ton of support online.

For me, it was the jumpstart of my writing, and a major reason why leaves are important to me.  I never would have had the courage to try writing a novel while teaching, and yet, since then, in spite of teaching, I have tried to do it every November.

There are some basic guidelines to Nanowrimo, one of which is getting rid of your inner editor while you are writing, something most of us have a difficult time with.  The only way to win Nanowrimo is to write 50,000 words, and the only external prize you get for winning is a certificate and the right to a purple bar which shows everyone you have validated your words.

There are a lot of inside jokes around Nanowrimo, and one is that if November is National Novel Writing Month, then December is Nanofimo, which stands for National Novel Finishing Month.  Then again, I guess I heard that March is Nanoedmo, National Novel Editing Month.

But I guess I need way more than a month, because I am slow and lazy and I am going to also write a blog post a day for the rest of my leave, so I officially declare this year Sunoedye, better known as Susie's Novel Editing Year.