Waiting for Friday

Why can't I wait til Friday? Simple. It's the beginning of July and the start of Camp NaNoWriMo, a summer challenge to write a novel manuscript of 50,000 words in thirty days. NaNoWriMo traditionally takes place in November and has been going since 1999. Now, with Camp NaNoWriMo, participants have the option to turn any month into a writing month. This year, I'll be participating in July.

My NaNo record over five years of participating is 22k last November. I'm still very proud of that, but it's time to top my record. I already have a fantastic idea that I'm itching to start. Until Thursday, I will work on developing my characters and making a list of possible plot twists to incorporate when the story begins to lag. I feel that a NaNoWriMo in July will better fit my schedule this summer. I know my schedule fairly precisely and can easily carve a couple hours per day for writing before work claims me. In August, after my internship, my schedule will be more up in the air and November has never been the best month for me. There's always a play in the first two weeks and studying for finals is a must in the last week, then there's the holiday.

Scheduling conflicts aside, the whole idea of NaNoWriMo works well for me. With a strict deadline (30 days) and a set goal (50k) I don't have time to fret over tiny details or go crazy with editing when I'm still in the middle of telling the story. Who knows? Maybe this year will be my year. I've placed a widget on the sidebar to track my novelling progress.

I have heard a lot of criticism about NaNoWriMo, people arguing that writing must be focused on quality rather than sheer quantity. My personal philosophy is that there will be no quality without quantity. If there's not something there initially, there can be no judge one way or the other if it is quality.

Anyone interested in taking up a fun, crazy novel writing challenge, either in summer or in November, check out http://www.nanowrimo.org for more information.