Write Your Own Novel: NaNoWriMo Starts Today

National Novel Writing Month is in November, and November begins today.

If you’ve ever thought about writing a book, but decided it was too lofty a project, continue reading this article. Or share it with friends. 

I know a little something about NaNoWriMo, because I did it myself last year. In order to finish a 50,000-word book in one month, you must write about 1,700 words every single day, which is pretty ridiculous. You just have to charge forward; no looking back.

I woke up every morning and wrote for an hour while I drank coffee and ate cereal. I lived in San Francisco at the time, so I continued writing on the bus to work. I usually wrote a bit more when I got home because ideas would pop into my head throughout the day. I had a loose plot idea, but beyond that, I made it up as I went along. 

You can see my charted progress in the image that accompanies this article.

It was an amazing, but exhausting, challenge. A friend of mine completed it as well. We now have books (with self-designed covers) sitting next to one another on our bookshelves. I think that’s pretty cool, even if the books are choppy and raw.

The NaNoWriMo website functions like a social network, so you can workshop your ideas in online forums and meet up with other people in Davis. I did this once a week in San Francisco, where thousands of people took the challenge. It looks like a fair amount of Davisites are jumping in as well.

Visit the Sacramento region's page here. Create an account. And let us know if you start writing!

One writer plans to host a write-in from 6-9pm at the Davis Library on Thursdays. Read the forums to follow meetings as they pop up. There is talk of meeting at as well.