NaNoWriMo 2013

I mentioned that I would be taking part in NaNoWriMo on a recent blog post (link) and as some of you may not know about NaNoWriMo, I thought I would tell you all about it!

Image taken from http://nanowrimo.org/en

NaNoWriMo is an exciting writing (Ha! That rhymed!) event that occurs ever November of the year. Writers get themselves pumped up to write a 50,000 word novel i just 30 days! So it takes place from the start until the end of November and whilst you don’t win anything cool like a book deal for the novel you’ve written or some money to spend on some writing equipment, you do get that sort of pride that you wrote that many words in 30 days. It’s something I’ve added to my writing CV when I apply for experience and jobs, as well as when I’ve been applying for my writing postgraduate degree.

The first year I took part was in 2011, after my friend Sophie mentioned it to me over coffee one afternoon. When I got home I had a look on their website and it was exactly how my friend had described it, so I signed up and started to think of some story ideas that I could write-up.

My friend Sophie an I met up a week or so before NaNoWriMo was due to start and we discussed what story ideas we’d both come up with, as well as buy ourselves some notebooks for writing ideas and notes in. We spent a good hour or so in Starbucks writing and discussing ideas and it was great, it reminded me of when we were both at university in our creative writing class. I really miss those days.

That afternoon I went home with a great idea and this is the one I used for my novel.

Image taken from http://meditativemeanderings.blogspot.co.uk as I can’t find the old email that I had mine on.

I started on 1st November, as if you start beforehand or use a novel that you’ve already been writing it’s classed as cheating and while you wouldn’t get into trouble about it from anyone, it’s just pointless to do really. Anyway, I digress! I started on 1st November, as everyone did/does and I finished 5 days early on the 25th November. I was and I am still really proud of myself for doing so well with the challenge and to this day I still can’t believe I wrote that many words in such a short period of time.

Since then I’ve been continuing writing that novel and as of yet, it isn’t finished and it still needs to be proof read as I really would like to try and get it published in the future.

In 2012 I attempted NaNoWriMo again but I did really badly the first week and ended up quitting on the idea of being able to do it, thus I gave up and was really disheartened about it all. But this being said November 2012 was a really bad month for me and the last thing on my mind was writing, even though I love it so much.  Plus I was always at work and for some reasons I was always doing late and night shifts during this month, which sucked as it meant I had no time to do my writing.

Image taken from weheartit.com

I’m going to learn from last year and try my best this year to complete NaNoWriMo again! I’ve been thinking of novel ideas already and have a few in mind, which is great for me!

I have a month now to plan and such like that and I have a feeling my boyfriend as well as my fellow writer friends who take part in NaNoWriMo every year will be really encouraging and supportive when it comes to writing everyday, which will help so much. I really do hope I complete NaNoWriMo this year and if I don’t, I hope I at least get closer to it than I did last year.

In a months time I’ll be writing a post to update you all on how I’m ready, what my plan is for writing and such like that. Also at the end of each week in November (so it’ll be on Sunday evening or Monday morning) I’ll be keeping you up to date with my progress on NaNoWriMo.

Before reading this post did you know about NaNoWriMo? If not did you find out about it through this post?

If you already knew about NaNoWriMo, will you be taking part in it this year like myself? If you found out about it through this post, are you inclined to give it a go now?

Let me know in the comments down below! I’d love to hear from you.

I’m so excited for NaNoWriMo this year that I’m already getting ready to buy a notebook so jot all my ideas and notes down in. The more organised I get myself, the better!

Until next time, take care and I hope everyone’s week has been good. Enjoy your weekends all and I’ll see you next week with my monthly posts.