Why You Need to Make Time for National Novel Writing Month if You Are A Writer

National Novel Writing Month is a contest where you're working against yourself and your life to write a novel in one measly little month. 30 days, 50,000 words. It doesn't have to be good, but it does have to be finished before midnight on November 30th.

You can share excerpts from your novel, join in on the message boards, get particular details for your novel from other members on said message board (incredibly helpful, I can attest to that), keep track of how you and your friends are doing, and perhaps the best of all, meet up with other people in your area who are also enjoying the insanity of NaNoWriMo and getting support!

Oh yes - and it's an excuse to drink lots of coffee.

There are late nights. Favorite television shows must be missed, or DVR'd to watch in December. Your family must support you, for you will excuse yourself from Thanksgiving dinner and go to your laptop instead of on the group walk to work off your tryptophan.

And after all the hard work, letting the flying monkeys validate your novel and seeing that purple winner's bar above your name is the best feeling in the world!

I share this story all the time, so I forgive you if you are rolling your eyes right now and wanting to skip to the next station.

In October of 2003, I first discovered a blog that referenced this writing...thing. There was a link, and a bunch of descriptive text that talked about writing and noveling, and how much fun it had been the year before.

Has your heart ever stopped because you got so excited? Mine did. I couldn't click the link quickly enough, the page wouldn't load quickly enough, and I pretty much held my breath as I read through every page and every rule and then...

The rules were simple. I didn't have to prove to anyone except a word counter that I'd actually done the work. Thus, if it sucked, nobody would know but me.

Oh. My. God. Seriously, I was beyond ecstatic. I have been writing since I a 4th grade project when I wrote a story and made a figurine of a cat out of Zest soap. I wrote most of a novel in a few spiral bound notebooks when I was in high school. I wrote short stories every chance I got working a night job as I slaved through college. And now there was a whole event revolving around writing a novel? With thousands of people joining me?

Oh, yeah. It was a perfect fit.

And ever since that year I've been writing Novels in November. Since 2003 I've become more involved, joining local write-ins in 2004, becoming a Municipal Liaison in 2008, and in 2010 I was able to enjoy my first Night of Writing Dangerously, a one-night event in San Francisco, California where you get to experience NaNo Fury with 199 (and this year, 249) other writers who are just as immersed in the experience as you are. (I'm actually raising funds to attend this year as well. Can you sponsor me?)

So, that's my story. I realized this year as NaNo unveiled Camp NaNoWriMo in July and August that what I'm doing right now, in my job, is not the job I'm meant to be doing. My dream job is to be able to work for The Office of Letters and Light, getting to spend time with this amazing non-profit program and it's child programs National Novel Writing Month, Script Frenzy, and the Young Writers Programs. Well, that's not likely to happen any time soon, but someday, man, I'll be writing from California.